The Woes of Old Man Kirkland's Apprentice
by Chameleon Incognito
Summary: Alfred F. Jones is an average 14-year-old boy who happens to think all supernatural beings are out to get him. That's all well and good, until he is forced to become the apprentice of the crankiest, rudest, and most British man in town who just so happens to deal with supernatural beings for a living. Thus begins Alfred's living nightmare. 18th century AU. NO SLASH.
1. Chapter 1

**NO USUK. Sorry guys, I know there are a lot of you USUK shippers out there (I am one myself) but the parring just doesn't work for this story. No worries, there **_**will **_**be other slash parings! I hope you understand. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or the Spook's Apprentice. I am using the characters from Hetalia and ideas from The Spook's Apprentice because this is fanfiction and I can.**

**BTW, this is a rocky start because I couldn't quite figure out how to write the first few chapters, but please give it a chance!**

If someone asked me to pinpoint when I first realized I could see and hear things other people can't, I wouldn't be able to tell you. It might've been in the school house when I saw a cat run across the room and through a wall that no one else happened to see. It might have been the time when I saw a man weeping out in the fields of my families' farm whom my father took no notice to. I don't know when it was; I just remember it being. My Ma was the only other person that I knew of who could see and hear everything I could.

When I complained about the screaming keeping me up at night, she would stop it for me. (I never knew how she shut them up exactly, just that I was incredibly grateful she did).

Whenever I complained about there being constant knocking on my window, she would tell me never to open it no matter how temping the urge to open the window became. (Which really freaked me out).

Nothing had ever seemed odd to me; it was just my daily life. I knew my Pa and older siblings always thought me strange, but my mother always told me never to pay any mind to them, so I didn't. I learned to do my chores and go to school while doing my absolute best to ignore all the bizarre happenings around me.

This system of mine worked out pretty well until I was about nine years old; that's when I learned about ghosts.

I was walking back inside the school house after our free time outside, when I happened to overhear an older boy, John, talking to a girl my age. Her name was Tori Laurinaitis. Her family had recently immigrated to the Americas from Lithuania and I found myself to be absolutely smitten with her. She was extremely cute, with soft, wavy brown hair she wore in a cute pony tail, and big, bright blue eyes. Her sweet, innocent smile made my heart skip a few beats, while her accent always sounded like soothing music to me. Of course, I didn't like her talking to other boys without myself (even though I was simply a friend), so I walked over to the two and proceeded to join the conversation. When John mentioned the word, "ghost", I was caught off guard and asked him what that was.

With raised eyebrows John proclaimed, "You don't know what a ghost is, kid? A ghost is a spirit of the dead whose sole purpose is revenge on the living for makin' their live so stinkin' hard." He looked around us with suspicious, squinted eyes, as if to make sure no one was listening on our conversation. He leaned down towards me and said, "If you can see 'em, that means that they're out to get you."

Tori narrowed her eyes, put her hands on her hips, and told John there was no such thing as ghosts, and that he should be ashamed for trying to trick us. On the outside I agreed with her, but on the inside I was absolutely terrified. I realized that ghosts did, in fact, exist, and that I saw them every day of my life. Ghosts were the one's moaning all night long. Ghosts were the one's who knocked on my window, trying to make me open it for them. Ghosts were the one's sitting out in the corn fields, crying. Ghosts were the one's trying to kill me.

From that day forward, I lived my life in utter terror, as pathetic as that sounds. I knew John was only trying to scare me at the time, but I couldn't help but notice everything he said make startling sense. From that fear, a mild obsession grew.

I began researching ways to ward off ghosts. I would make a habit of sprinkling salt around the farm, around the school house, and anywhere else I went frequently. I began spending the free time I had to casting "spells" that would ward off spirits of any kind. (They didn't work very well; I still heard the knocking at my window and the distant screaming and moaning).

Of course I still had my friends (I wasn't _that _paranoid) but I never went to any social gatherings in fear of seeing the beings I feared most in a place that I had not yet attempted to ghost-proof yet. As a result, I became more reserved.

Time passed, people died, people were born, and before I knew it, it was time that I had to get an apprenticeship. Being the youngest of four, all my other siblings had already left for their apprenticeships beside my eldest brother, Holden, who would inherit the farm. Of course, going away from home instilled fear inside me; I didn't know if the place would be infested with ghosts or not. If my master's house _was _infested with ghosts, I wouldn't have my Ma to scare them away for me. (I know that sounds stupid, but you'd go running if you saw Ma get angry as well).

When the dreaded topic finally came up, Ma told us that she already arranged an apprenticeship for me.

"Isn't that supposed to be my choice to make, Ma?" I asked. And it _was _my choice to make. I didn't want to be stuck with a lousy boss that I absolutely despised just because I was afraid to speak up to my mother. That was ridiculous!

"It is," she replied, "but I know you'll just love this one."

"Well, what is it?" asked Pa. That caught me by surprise; I would think that if Ma already decided on my apprenticeship, she would have discussed it with Pa.

"Alfred here is going to start working for Mr. Kirkland."

My heart literally stopped beating. "W-what?" I squeaked.

"I _said _that you will start an apprenticeship for Arthur Kirkland. Next week, to be precise."

No. No no no no no no _no. _She could _not _do that to me. I would never _ever _become a spook's apprentice. Spooks are involved in all sorts of wacky things; wacky _supernatural _things. Ghosts happen to belong to the supernatural category, so no way in hell was _I _going near Kirkland or his funky business.

"You want to apprentice him to a _spook?" _Holden asked in dismay. "What evil power has possessed you to do such a thing like that?"

"Witch craft," mumbled Pa, "it's going around these days."

Pa was only joking, but his comment still got me thinking; Ma always was able to stop the ghosts. Was she some sort of witch? In that case was _I _some sort of witch, because I was able to see the spirits of the beyond?!

Holden, Pa, and I shared a paranoid look. Ma simply rolled her eyes as the three of us."Crimes of 'witch craft' are nothing more than a load of blether. They're all about jealous woman making up some sodding stories about other women for whatever reason. I don't wish to partake in that ridiculous affair."

"Sounds pretty suspicious," said Holden, "almost like it's something a _witch _would say, don't you think so, Al?"

"Indeed I do, Hol."

"I told you not to call me that."

"Why can't I? You call me Al."

"That's because 'Al' is a good nickname. 'Hol' is a stupid nickname."

"It's fitting then; a stupid nickname for a stupid person."

"At least I don't have to be an apprentice for Ol' Man England."

"Shut up, you stupid Hol! At lest I don't have to tug on cow ditties and roll in fresh baked pig pies for the rest of my life! Pulling Maribel's utters are the closest thing _you'll _ever get to experiencing what it's like to be with a woman."

"Like _Tori's _ever gonna want to be with a spook."

My face flushed a violent shade of red at the mention of my long time crush. "No one ever said I was going to _be _a spook. I don't want to be the next Ol' Man England."

"Both of you, knock it off!" snapped my mother. "And what is with calling Mr. Kirkland 'Ol' Man England'? That is very rude, and he isn't old." The single flaw about my Ma (okay, not "single" flaw) was the fact that she was from Great Britain herself. It horrified us all (especially since she had the same accent as Ol' Man England), but we somehow learned to put up with it.

"Well he certainly _acts _like one, always snapping at people in the high, snooty Brit talk. You'd think that he still wants England to sail over hear and reclaim America!"

"Alfred!" she scolded, "you better practice saying only _good _thinks about Mr. Kirkland, seeing as you'll be his apprentice soon."

I snapped. "I will _not _be a spook's apprentice! Especially not one to Ol' Man England! He's so crabby, rude, has a dumb way of talking, no offense Ma, and aside from just _him, _he's a _spook_! No one knows what spooks do, accept be creepy and stalk grave yards. Grave Yards, which are just _crawling _with ghosts and the super natural. I don't want to do that. You can't make me do that!"

All she did was raise one eyebrow at my little rant. "Mr. Kirkland is not a bad person, and being a spook is a respectable business. You _will _be his apprentice, and you _will _do what I tell you. You are not allowed to apply to any other apprenticeship until you at least try for two months. If it really is that awful than I will allow you to look for a new apprenticeship. Now go to your room. I don't want to hear another word on the matter."

It was unbelievable. Why Ol' Man England, of all people? Did she want to ruin my life? I'd never actually talked to him, but I have seen him sulking around, and have heard him yelling at others. His English accent was unmistakable; he was a true Brit, alright. The problem wasn't that he was a _Brit _exactly; it was more of him being an unpleasant person with and unpleasant job. I still didn't see why _I _had to be his apprentice. There were plenty of other boys my age who were weird and into that dark supernatural stuff—boys that weren't _me._

I stayed up late at night, hiding under my blanket and listening to the _rap tat tats _on my window. After 14 years, you would think I was used to it, but I was still terrified of what that sound could be. There wasn't any moaning or screaming that night; Ma probably felt bad for making me have such an undesirable apprenticeship, and stopped them early. I sighed to myself, and tried to fall asleep.

* * *

I just wanted it to _stop. _It was constantly there, nailing a pounding "_Tap tap tap" _into my skull. With courage I didn't know I had, I leaped out of my bed and marched to the window. With shaking hands, I pulled the window open and was instantly knocked down by a gust of wind caused by the ghosts that were currently flying all around my room. _Well, _I thought, _at least I now know what was causing the tapping sounds. I wish I left the window shut._

It was only then I remembered Ma's warning; _"Don't ever open that window, you hear me?"_

I tried to scream, but the ghosts came down and grabbed me, covering my mouth in the process. Their hands felt like cold shards of ice jabbing into my skin. The wind was swirling like there was a storm in my room. I was scared out of my mind and wondered why no one was hearing the commotion and running to my room.

The ghosts began to bring me towards the window. I closed my eyes anticipating my death, but they were pried open by the deathly cold hands' of the spirits. _No! _I silently screamed, _I don't want to see my own death! Have mercy! I'm too young to die! _But they weren't throwing me out the window. I looked at the one to my left as if to say, "_What's the hold up?" _He shrugged in response, and gestured for me to look out the window.

There, rising up from the ground and to my eye level (my room was on the second story of our house) was Ol' Man England in all his bushy-eyebrow glory. He fixed me with a patronization glare using his cat-like green eyes that just so happened to be the exact same shade as my own**[1]**, climbed through the window, and fell to the floor with a subtle _thud _that reminded me of the way the morning dew fell to the ground. Both actions were done in such a silent and purposeful way.

"Bring him closer," Ol' Man England said to the spirits. The ghosts brought me right in front of his face; so close our noses were touching. _I'm going to soil myself, _I thought miserably. "Not _that _close, you bloody cretins." They moved me across the room. "Well, _now _that's quite too far away. You know what, just stay there, and I will come towards you until I stop in the amount of distance I want between the boy and myself." He walked towards me until there was about foot's distance between us. "That's much better." His British accent was absolutely _revolting._ The very _sound _of his voice made me feel more frightened than waking up and knowing it was Ma's time of the month.

Finally, the spirits uncovered my mouth allowing me to stutter out, "Wha-wha-wha-what d-do you want w-with me Ol'—I mean, Sir?"

"I need to tell you something _very _important, so you better listen well." He got so close to me I could feel his vile breath brush against my face with every exhale. "Alfred, I am your father."

* * *

I woke up with a start, and fell out of my bead. My heard was beating fast, and I could hear the blood roaring in my ears. I looked at the window to see it firmly shut and the sun rising behind the hills in the distance.

"It was just a dream," I whispered to myself. "Holden was right. I really should stop listening to those stupid 'Farm Wars' stories Matthew makes up."

There was a _thud _against the window. I must've jumped two feet in the air before I dove back under the blankets on my bed. It turned out to be just a bird who accidentally flew into the window. Sighing, I thought that I was in for a _very _long day.

**[1] Yes, I know Alfred's eyes are actually blue and he has glasses. PLEASE don't scream at me, there are a reason his eyes are green that will later be explain. And besides, I didn't say his eyes are going to **_**stay **_**green. (;**

**Also, Alfred's dream sequence was all wacky because I figured Alfred's dreams would be wacky.**

**PLEASE FOLLOW, FAVORITE, AND REVIEW! BTW, this is my first Hetalia fanfict, so feedback would be very much appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A big thanks to everyone who favored and followed this story! A very special thanks to NightTheCat for being my first reviewer! Reviews simply make my day! (And follows and favorites, of course).**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia of The Spooks Apprentice.**

"_Alfred, get up! You need to feed the pigs!"_

Geez, the sun had just risen, yet she was already nagging me to do the morning chores? _"I'm coming, Ma!" _I yelled back. _She's the one that wants me to do a stupid apprenticeship for a man I don't even like. She should start doing my chores herself, to get used to my absence. _

That just reminded me; it was the day I would begin my position as the apprentice for Ol' Man England.

As quick as I could, I got dressed and ran outside before the woman could scream at me again. "First thing's first! Why, Mary-loo! You're looking mighty fine today! Did you do something with your hair?" She starred at me with a glazed over look in her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes." She was, after all, a donkey and therefore could not speak English. It took someone as talented as I was in interpreting the language of animals to speak on their behalf.

I went through the usual motions of my morning routine: milk the cow, collect eggs from the hens, shovel manure of all manure producing mammals we owned, water the crops, churn the butter (only on Sundays), and feed all of the animals. (Excluding the family dog, Maple, and Holden; Ma feeds them). However, I took twice as long to complete everything then I usually did. It was probably because I thought if I prolonged all of my duties (yes, I said "duties". Grow up, you preschoolers) then I prolonged the time before I had to leave home with Ol' Man England.

Sighing at my misfortune, I walked inside the house only to be faced with Matthew, my older brother. Matthew wasn't older by much; a year and three days, to be precise. Even through we weren't twins, everyone thought we were.

Instantly, I was out of my depressed stupor. "Mattie!" I tackled my brother in a giant hug and exclaimed how much I had missed him.

"Alfred, we saw each other last week!" Matthew always had a very soft way of talking. He was not very forward, and was always very quiet and reserved. This often caused people to look over him easily. Sometimes this fact upset Matthew, but I could easily cheer him up by saying that he would make an awesome spy.

"Yeah, but that feels like a _lifetime _ago. And besides; I might not see you for a while after this, so I better make it count."

Understanding dawned of his face. Matthew knew about my impending servitude to Ol' Man England and was the one who showed me the most sympathy without pissing me off. Pa was too afraid to talk back to Ma, and Holden often gave me pitting looks, but other than that, the only thing he did was yell at me that I was "tugging to harshly on Maribel's utters". I tell you, he was going to make a wife of that cow yet. That is, if Maribel really had that low of standards. "We better get breakfast before Ma starts howling again."

When we walked in the kitchen we were greeted by the sight of Ma setting the table. Briefly, I wondered who would take on the chores I would leave behind for the next two months. It couldn't be Ma; she already did all the housework. Pa was always taking care of business and showing Holden the ropes. _Maybe they'll hire a stable hand. _As soon as I thought of it, I knew they wouldn't do that. There simply wasn't enough money.

"Well, are you two boys just going to stand there, or are you going to eat?"

Matthew and I shared a glance before we hightailed it to the dinning table. Breakfast was much nicer than usual including omelets, bacon, fresh orange juice, hash browns, oat meal, etc. It was, to say the least, much more appetizing than the usual grits we got served. It was probably because Ma was trying to get on my good side despite sending me off to my death. _Well it worked, _I thought as I began to dig in.

Ma slapped my hand, scolding me to wait for Holden. _It _almost _worked. _

"That reminds me!" said Matthew. "I have made up another installment of my hit drama, Farm Wars!" I almost asked him to tell us, but then I remembered my dream a few nights before. It didn't matter if I asked for him to continue of not; he just started talking again. "So I think we left off where Farmer Vader just told Luke Fieldwalker he was his father, which was a _huge _shock because of the recent battle of the corn crops."

"Mattie, you still telling that Farm Wars nonsense?"

"Hol! Am I glad to see you! Now we can eat!" I continued piling up my plate with sausages and bacon.

"You better hurry up," commented Pa, "Mr. Kirkland will be coming to pick you up in not too long."

Holden held up his hands and backed away, "Whoa, whoa, whoa; I didn't know Ol' Man England was coming _here."_

Ma smacked him of the back of his head with a wooden spoon. "I told you boys to stop referring to Mr. Kirkland in such a disrespectful manner. For goodness sake, he's only twenty-six! Much younger than your Pa and me!"

"Then he shouldn't act like such an old man if he isn't one, eh?" Matthew whispered. Per usual, no one paid him any mind.

Since Ol' Man England would only at the house in a little while, I shoveled down my food (with more than a few complaints from Matthew and Holden about how disgusting that looked), grabbed Matthew's arm, and dragged him upstairs into my room.

"H-hey, Alfred, I wasn't done-"

"We _have _to talk," I said, slamming the door behind me. I gave him my best serious look;green eyes to violet one's. "And I don't know when the next time I'll see you is, so we better make it good."

"Why is Ma making you work for the spook?" He wasn't addressing Ol' Man England, but his position.

I rubbed my face and sank to the floor. "I-I don't know. I've asked her, but all she'll tell me is that 'It's a perfectly respectable business that you should learn to appreciate'. I'm pretty nervous too. I don't _want _to work for Ol' Man- I mean, Mr. Kirkland. It's going to be 'bloody awful', as he would put it." I looked up at Matthew with a sly expression. "Enough about me now, what about _you, _Mattie? What has it been like apprenticed to the the town's book keeper?"

Matthew narrowed his eyes at me. "Good, I guess. It's, of course, not very glamorous, but it's getting more..._interesting, _I guess you could say."

Now _that _sounded suspicious. "How so?"

Matthew nervously sat down to be eye-level with me. "Y-you, you can't tell a soul, got it?"

"You have my word." And it was true; Matthew and I shared everything with each other and I would never betray that trust.

He glanced around one last time. "Book keeping isn't _all _that Mr. Wang does. Now that he trusts me enough, he finally told me what I'll be expected to do when I'm the age to take over his position. He, well, he keeps a file of everyone in the town; birth records, immigration records, criminal acts, job professions, you name it. He has all the information of everyone who has lived here the past 50 years. He keeps them all up to date; that's the book keeper's _real _job."

My eyes widened in astonishment. "_Seriously? _That is so spectacular! You certainly wouldn't expect something like that from a job called 'book keeper', would you?"

"I mean it, Al, you really can't tell anyone. Do you know how much trouble I'd be in?"

"Don't sweat it, my lips are sealed! But if he really has all the files on _everyone _in the town, do you think that he would...?" I trailed off, hoping Matthew caught what I was insinuating.

"What're you—" his eyes widened in understanding. "Yeah, most likely, eh. But what about it? I mean, it's not like we can exactly go in there and take Ol' Man Kirkland's file—" he stopped talking when he saw the expression on my face. "No."

"Oh, come _on—"_

"_No."_

"Matthew, please?"

"No!"

"Just one little—"

"I said _no, _Alfred, and I mean _no! _Do you even know what would happen to me—happen to _us—_if we were actually stupid enough to sneak into Mr. Wang's underground cellar to view _restricted _materials that no one beside Mr. Wang and myself are supposed to know about, let alone _access?!"_

"Nothing, if we're smart about it and don't get caught. Haven't you ever wondered about Ol' Man England? Especially since I'm going to work for him now, and neither of us know a thing about him."

Sighing, Matthew replied, "If you want to know more about Mr. Kirkland than you should ask him yourself, not do something illegal. That's all I'm saying on that matter."

"You're no fun," I pouted.

He rolled his eyes at me. "Have you even packed yet?"

I crossed over to my bed, and pulled out a sac from underneath it. Rummaging through it, I pulled out a few spare changes of cloths, a spare pare of shoes, and a lot of salt. "He told Ma to tell me to pack light, so I thought that this would be enough."

"That certainly is light, but what's the salt fo—oh, never mind, I remember you fetish with ghosts." He frowned at me, then crossed the room to put a hand on my shoulder. "Alfred, don't you think you're a little old to still believe in ghosts?"

That was right. Matthew and I shared everything with each other, but as we aged, he stopped believing me when I told him about seeing ghosts and other peculiar mishaps. He always told me it was all in my head, and that there were no such thing as ghosts. One day, I realized that no matter how close Matthew and I were, there was always that glaring fact that separated us from each other; I had green eyes **[1]**, and he had blue ones. Other than that, we looked exactly the same. We also became estranged because I could see spirits (they were out to get me), but that wasn't as important.

There was a sudden knocking on my door before I heard Holden's voice say, "Alfred, Ol' Man—I mean, Mr. Kirkland is here for you."

Matthew shot me a sympathetic glace as I threw everything back into my bag and began my trek towards sudden doom.

"Next time we see each other, I'll tell you about my of my new stories I've been working on; I think I'll call this one 'Sea Trek'. It's about how these brave nomads sail the ocean blue to chart and record the new places they find. There's the Captain Kirk, and his first in command, Spock, who's actually the last of the mer-folk race from the lost city of Atlantis. How does that sound, eh?"

I gave Matthew one of my brightest smiles and told him it sounded spectacular. And it really did; anything sounded better than going to live with Ol' Man England for two months as a spook's apprentice.

When I got to the base of the stairs, I saw him talking with my mother. He looked the same as he did in my dream that first night I found I was going to be apprenticed to him; messy blonde hair, big bushy eyebrows, startling green eyes, and adorned in a heavy black cloak with matching boots._ Do I really have to work for this nut-job for two whole months?_ I thought._ Doesn't my mother care about my well-being? I bet his place is just crawling with all sorts of weird and bizarre black magic items and awful ghosts..._

"There you are Alfred," said Ma, turning to face me. "What ever took you so long?"

"I was just, uh, checking that I had everything I needed." For the first time, I noticed that she had the same exact shade of green for her eye color as Ol' Man England and I had.

"Hello Alfred, I don't reckon we have been properly introduced." I looked up to see the Ol' Man himself looking directly at me. "My name is Arthur Kirkland, as you know. It is a pleasure to be acquainted with you." He held out his hand and I hesitantly took it.

"Alfred F. Jones, but you already knew that." Now that I was seeing him up close, he didn't resemble an old man in the slightest. He was very young; only a few years older than Holden. Not nearly old enough to be my father, let alone my grandpa.

I would like to say there was a huge goodbye party for me, with lots of pastries and other delectable eatable items (like bacon!), that my mom cried while I was leaving before stopping us and deciding that she wanted me to stay home and_ not_ be an apprentice to Ol' Man England for two months. Sadly that did not happen. There was no party (or bacon) or any long-lasting good-byes. Ma was swift about it like she was about everything; she told me to try to keep and open mind and sent me on my way.

As I followed Ol' Man England (I really shouldn't call him that, seeing how he isn't really old) to his home, I wondered what kind of creepy and horrid things I'd see when I arrived there._ Good thing I remembered plenty of salt,_ I thought to myself._ I'll most definitely need it._

We walked. And walked. And walked. And_ walked._ After what seemed like a_ billion_ years to me, I opened my mouth and said, "If it was going to take this long, why didn't we take horses?"

"Stop with the complaining, you've only been on your feet for fifteen minutes." That's a_ long_ time to be walking! "You better get used to walking greater distances. This is nothing; we're nearly there, anyways."

_Finally,_ Mr. Kirkland uttered the sweet, juicy words, "We're here." I immediately began to dread what the horrid monstrosity that the spook would call "home". Then I looked up and all fear and terror was replaced by pure awe and adoration.

"_This _is where you live?" I asked in disbelief. "It's like...spectacular." And it was. The "house" was more like a mansion, with three different stories, looking very grand and built like a fortress. The best part was the front yard; there was a beautiful garden filled with flowers that came in more colors than I could name.

I followed Mr. Kirkland through the front gate, and passed through the garden on a stone path that lead to the front door. The whole way there, I was awestruck and gaping like a fish without water. On the front door there was a big, silver door knocker of a lion's head. It was slightly condescending, but not even that could damper the wonderful mood the flowers' cast.

For the first time since he introduced himself to me, Mr. Kirkland looked back at me with a scowl that I could already tell was ever-present. "Would you mind turning around?"

"Why?"

"Don't ask questions you insolent boy, do as your told."

All of the sudden, I remembered why he was referred to as _Ol' _Man England. With a scowl that mirrored Ol' Man England's, I turned around and crossed my arms impatiently. There was a series of different sounds; mainly the sound of the opening of a bazillion different locks, but there were other sounds integrated in there that made me curious as to what exactly he was doing other than unlocking the door.

_This is ridiculous, _I though, _why would someone have this many locks for one door?_

"You may turn around now."

I peaked over my shoulder to see Ol' Man Kirkland still scowling at me. With resignation, I accepted that all I'd ever see on his face would be a scowl.

"Are you just going to stand there like a moron, or are you going to walk inside?"

Much to my chagrin, I walked inside the dark mansion. It may have seemed like a wonderland on the outside, but it was clearly just as foreboding as I pictured it to be on the inside. There wasn't any hint of untidiness of uncleanliness that I had originally anticipated, but there were low lit candles casting a gloom over the place, and no ounce of cheer at all. I felt like I was in one of those horror stories always told at the school house during all hollows eve.

Before I could get any further than two steps, Ol' Man Kirkland stopped me. "You're shoes, if you don't mind."

I looked at him with a perplexed expression. "What about them?"

He ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily. "Your mum wasn't kidding when she said you were thick, now was she? I mean for you to take them off. I don't fancy you tracking mud and dirt all through this house."

That was mean of Ma to say; I knew sometimes I didn't get things like jokes immediately, but I wasn't stupid, or anything. "So, where will I be staying?"

Ol' Man England replied with a dismissing, "I'll tell you when you need to know. Right now we are going to do some gardening." Seeing the looked on my face, he rolled his eyes at me. "You are a real lazy one, you know that? How do you think I get the garden looking so nice, by staring at it? No, certainly not."

"What about after that?"

"Will you stop it with your meaningless questions, already? I don't even recall giving you permission to speak."

Ignoring that, "I thought I was supposed to be a _spook's _apprentice, not a gardener's one."

Ol' Man England picked up a long, thin piece of wood nearby and asked me for my hand. When I inquired as to why, he picked it up himself, and gave my palm a good, hard _SMACK._

"You are _my _apprentice, and you shall do what I tell you. I expect not to hear any more back talking from you from here on out. Am I clear?" I nodded. "I _said, _am I clear?"

"Yes sir."

"I'm glad we have an understanding. All right, first thing is first; I'll brew some tea while you start looking at the proper materials you'll need for this kind of gardening."

This was going to be a _long _two months.

**Thank you for reading, and please FOLLOW, FAVORITE, AND REVIEW! ADVICE, THOUGHTS, AND CRITICISM ARE ALL VERY WELCOME!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I'd like to thank everyone who followed and favored this fanfict. Special thanks to:**

**Shadow's party girl 96: Don't worry; I have ****_major _****USUK moments planned. **

**theSardonyx: Thanks! I love including references in my chapters. I hide them like Easter eggs, and just see if anyone can find them.**

**Thank you two for reviewing!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my idea's. Unfortunately, Hetalia and TSA do not fit into those categories. **

Gardening was horrible. The entire time, the old man was hollering to "not be so rough, I might damage the root base" or "what am I, a weakling? Put some elbow grease in it!" We must've been out there for hours before Ol' Man England finally said, "I think that's enough for today," and went back inside.

The sun was already setting behind the hills, casting an surreal glow over the entire garden. It really was quite beautiful, despite how much of a pain it was to keep up. I turned to follow the old man inside the house when I saw a small, bright light fly across the flower beds out of the corner of my eye. I looked back again to confirm if I had really saw that light or not, but it wasn't there anymore. I rubbed my eyes, and blamed it on mid-sun madness. **[1]**

The old man told me to wait patiently (and not to touch _anything) _while he prepared our dinner. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited. Food had been the only thing on my mind since I finished breakfast (He said since I had such a big breakfast I wouldn't require lunch. What a bunch of bull crap.) and I was practically starving. I figured that since the old man was so uptight, he would be a good cook. (Don't ask me to try to explain this logic. I just assumed that all uptight people were good cooks). I was wrong. So, so, so tragically wrong. So wrong that I was ashamed of existing because I thought that anyone who was this wrong didn't deserve to walk the earth.

He fixed up this weird type of mush that was worse than grits. _Well, food is food, _I thought, and ate it. I just hoped I wouldn't be sick in the morning.

After I finished eating (if you could call shoving something uneatable down your throat eating) I asked the old man, "So, where exactly will I be sleeping tonight?"

Mr. Kirkland looked at me with an amused expression. I began to fear for my life. "Oh, you won't be sleeping tonight." I could already feel those cold hands gripping me, dragging me down into the darkness... "After all, you _are _a spook's apprentice, and therefore do what a spook's apprentice does." He got a big grin on his face that gave me goosebumps.

"W-what do you mean?" I laughed nervously.

"I will _show _you what I mean."

He look an oil lantern from nearby, and lead me across the mansion to a small, dark room. It was bare, save a few cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling. In the middle of the dull room, there was a wooden hatch on the ground. Mr. Kirkland knelt down on the ground, wrapped his pasty-pale hand around the iron handle, and lifted it open. A large gust of cool air blew into my face as I looked at the unstable wooden stairs that descended into darkness. Immediately, I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. All of my instincts were telling my to hightail it out of that room and run all the way home. I just knew something bad was down there. I just _knew._

"Are you even listening to me?"

I looked to the old man's scowling face and realized he had been talking to me. "Uh, sorry, what did you say?"

He huffed impatiently, "Why do you have to be such an insolent child? Never mind that now. Anyways, what I was trying to tell you was the instructions for your first official assignment as my apprentice. You will go down there," he pointed to the stairs descending into nothingness, "with one standard candle that I will give you. Your objective is to stay there the whole night and you are not going to let the candle go out under _any circumstances."_

"...I have to stay there the _whole _night? Down there? Without any salt?!"

With a raised eyebrow he replied, "Salt doesn't affect spirits. You'll be just as well off without salt than you would be with it. It's about time _someone _told you." At my disbelieving expression he rolled his eyes, "Yes, I do know about your unhealthy fear of anything that resembles a ghost. However, you'll have to work through that if you're going to survive this apprenticeship."

That was the absolute last thing I wanted to hear. It freaked me out more than I would ever admit to anyone; yes, I had expected to come into contact with ghosts around the old man, but I never expected him to make me face them. I never expected anyone to do that. "How did you-"

"Au—I mean, your mum informed while we were conversing about the possibility of you becoming my apprentice. Now then," he took out a candle approximately as wide as my thumb and as tall as my hand and lit it with a match, "it's about time you get down there." He held out the candle for me to grab, but I refused to take it.

"If you expect me to go down there then you're sorely mistaken, you cranky Brit. I am _not _going down into some place that creepy and dark for a whole night without any sleep. Let alone without you telling me why I have to do it in the first place. So you can send me back home and tell my Ma that I failed your stupid initiation and that you don't want me."

Instead of exploding at me like I expected him to, he simply sighed heavily. "You _are _a piece of work. I didn't expect you'd really be this difficult, let alone daft. You're wasting time, you know. While you're sitting here arguing with me, this candle is melting. You really don't want to be stuck down there in complete darkness, do you?"

"What about my stuff I brought with me?"

"I put your belongings in the room you will normally be staying in for the night."

Glaring at him, I ripped the candle out of his grasp and began to descend the wooden stairs. After a few steps, I collected my wits and realized what I was doing. Terrified, I turned around to beg Mr. Kirkland's forgiveness and to let me pass on spending the night in the darkness, but when I turned around, Mr. Kirkland said before I could even utter a word, "Remember; the only one who can actually harm you down there is yourself." And with that, he slammed the door shut and locked it. There was no turning back.

With a nervous gulp and a shaking step, I walked down the creaking stairs until I hit the bottom. Despite the light the small candle gave, I could barely see past my own nose. There was a cool draft, making me believe the cellar was actually quite large. My heart was pounding, and I could hardly breathe. A particularly strong gust of air came towards me, threatening to blow the candle out. I blocked the small, dwindling flame using my hand with clumsy, panicked movements.

I heard something that sounded like chains rattling, causing my hands to shake so violently out of fear that the candle nearly went out. I knew it was a ghost or a ghoul. It was some kind of spirit, and it terrified me. I sat on the ground next to the candle, and started rocking myself back and forth, trying to calm myself. I could feel myself on the verge of a panic attack when I heard a young woman whisper "Hello? Is someone there?" For some reason, this seemed so much more terrifying than any screaming spirit could be. I was ashamed to feel wetness on my cheeks and my chin trembling. I wanted to go home. I wanted to be in my warm bed surrounded my salt. Most of all, I wanted my mom and Mattie.

"Please, help me." I heard a sob, and it was not my own. "Please, you _have _to help me. I'm begging you." The woman's voice only got louder, along with the rattling chains. There were soft rhythmic footsteps coming toward me, and I bit down on my tongue, resiting the urge to scream. After a few seconds, the footsteps halted in front of me. Slowly, I rose my head and looked at the figure standing right in front of me.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. I was paralyzed with fear. If the spirit didn't kill me first, fear would. She was adorned in a ripped an heavily blood stained white night gown, and had shackles attached to five of her limbs. Her hair was long and brown, and she had sunken-in brown eyes with delicate features and pale skin. At just a glance you'd think she was human, but if you gazed long enough you could see she was just a tad transparent.

She stretched out one hand towards me, begging me to help her. She got so close to me, nearly touching my face, when her hand came into the candlelight and started to fade away. Acting as if I had stabbed her or something, her eyes widened and she withdrew her arm as quickly as possible. Despite her hand reforming as soon as it was out of the light, tears started streaming down her face. She broke out in a gentle sob, and started moaning. "I just want to see my sons Feliciano and Lovino again. H-help me."

I was slightly relieved and not paralyzed anymore; she couldn't touch me. As long as I had the candle, she couldn't touch me. _That's what he meant when he said salt doesn't ward off ghosts, _I thought, _because light does! _

I stayed there, rolled in a ball beside the candle for a long time. I was still frightened, but less so than I was before. The woman would walk around crying, and forget I was even there. Sometimes she would walk out of my sight, and sometimes she would come back towards me, begging for my help in seeing her sons. I would've felt sorry for her if she had actually still been alive, and had I not been so scarred.

After a while, I began to get nervous. The candle grew dimmer and dimmer as the hours passes as the wax wore further and further down. I only had a few more hours before dawn (I know how to keep track of time), but I knew the candle wouldn't last that long. As the candle dwindled down into nothing, I started shaking again, knowing there wasn't anything to stop the ghost from harming me now.

As if she heard my thoughts, the dead woman began to come toward me once again. I tried convincing myself that she wouldn't hurt me because she hadn't shown any violent tendencies before. _But the candle was there to keep her at bay, _I thought miserably.

"_Help me," _she cried, _"Please, help me!"_

I curled into a ball on the ground, tucking my head between my knees. That didn't stop her; she knelt down and grabbed me by my shoulders. The coldness radiated from the hands and into my bones making me tremble. Her shrieks started penetrating my scull giving me a huge headache—it was overwhelming. Now that she could touch me, she started getting more violent. I couldn't breathe; the coldness prevented me form doing so. I could feel the her freezing breath on my face (she shouldn't have had any breath; she was a ghost) as she started clutching me tighter and tighter. I felt like I was being crushed from sheer force.

_I may have been wrong before about me dying, _I thought, _but I know that this is definitely it. I don't have a small candle to protect me anymore. It's not a dream either...it might be...okay, I really hope it is. That would mean that I didn't actually soil myself. _Just as I knew I was going to die because my lungs were getting crushed to death (thanks to the hag), the most random thing came to my mind. (Random for me; I would normally only think of food when I was about to die). I remembered Arthur telling me right before he enclosed me in darkness, _"Remember, the only one who can actually eat ham down there is yourself." _Stupid old man...there wasn't any ham...unless he hid it, and the whole purpose of me coming down here was to find it!

The crushing pain in my chest and the inability to even draw a shallow breath brought me back to the present.

_Arthur wouldn't do that; I bet he doesn't even eat ham. What could he have been saying, then? Man, this hurts. Stupid spirits only exist to harm the living. Harm kind of sounds like ham...wait a minute. The old man didn't say anything about ham. He said, "The only one who can _harm _you down there is yourself."_

It was a long shot, but it was the only option I had at the moment. With all the courage my 14-year-old self could muster, I took a breath whispered out loud, "You can't touch me. You're just a spirit." I repeated this over and over and over in my mind, doing my utmost best to convince myself.

The most amazing thing happened. I slipped through her grasp and fell back onto the ground with a thump. I started gasping air desperately as my whole body practically sighed in relief. I laughed as she tried grabbing at me again while wailing uncontrollably. She was still there, still real; she just couldn't touch me now that I knew she couldn't harm me. However, I still hadn't conquered my fear of the supernatural; not by a long shot. I still had quite a long ways to go.

The next few hours were uneventful. It was filled with wailing, chain rattling, and me trying not to regress into a state of paranoia.

After what seemed like forever, I heard the wooden hatch creak open and Mr. Kirkland calling, "Alfred, you can come up now."

Despite the accent, I had never been happier to hear another person's voice before. I sprinted up the stairs, slammed the hatch closed with a huge _clunk, _and locked it so there was no way of the ghost getting out. Breathing heavily, I collapsed on the floor and attempted to slow down my beating heart. "I don't know if you know this or not," I gasped, "but there's a crazy ghost down there."

He cracked a smile at my distressed state. "I noticed. I expect your candle burned out approximately three hours ago?"

My eyes widened in horror. "You _knew _it would go out?! And you still SENT ME DOWN THERE?! What the sweet baby Jesus in Jerusalem!?"

"I know that you are tired, but I still do not tolerate that kind of language from you. Now then, I have prepared breakfast for the both of us. I will explain everything, but you really should change first. I can't expect that soiled trousers are comfortable."

It was official; I hated my life.

* * *

For breakfast, the old man gave me these weird triangle-shaped rocks and called them scones. Apparently, they were eatable. I began to miss grits.

We ate in silence for a few minutes before the old man sighed while rubbing his face, "If makes you feel any better, you were never in any real danger."

"Oh yeah?" I challenged, "Then why did I feel her crushing me? I would have died if I didn't figure out that she couldn't touch my unless I thought she could and it would've been all thanks to you, old man!"

He snorted, "Don't be so dramatic. I was monitoring you the whole time. The most that would've happened is you being knocked out from the lack of oxygen before I came down there and took you to safety. I dare say you cut it close, but you came through in the end. I honestly was very doubtful you would be successful at all, to be honest with you."

"Wait, wait, wait," I said, holding my hand up. "Why make me do that at all? _Especially _if you already knew I had a phobia of ghosts. Or do you just enjoy scaring the sh-poop out of people?"

"Alfred, what do you think a spook does?"

"Uh...rob graves?"

Mr. Kirkland gave me a disgusted look. "That's repulsive and despicable. No, a spook keeps its town safe from any, to use a term you might be familiar with, _paranormal _activities."

My whole viewpoint of Ol' Man England changed completely at that moment in time. "You mean you're kind of like a hero? That is so totally awesome!"

He only raised one bushy eyebrow with an amused expression at my comment. "I guess you could sort of say I'm like a hero."

"But if you are...then why don't people know about it? And why choose _me _of all eligible people to be your apprentice?"

The Brit's expression turned from being amused into deadly serious. "In order to be a spook, you need to keep your activities in unadulterated secrecy from anyone but your employer, obviously. It's a precaution set in order to not cause unnecessary panic throughout the town. As for choosing you as my apprentice, you were the only one suited for the job."

"How so?"

He snorted and looked at me as if I was a complete idiot. "Not just _anyone _can become a spook. You have to have the sight. I don't really think I need to elaborate on that; it's pretty straight forward."

Even I caught on to what he was referring to. "So, because I can see ghosts like you can, I'm your apprentice?"

"Yes, basically. However, it's not just ghosts you will be able to see, as you will discover. There are many different types of creatures in the other realm, not all of them bad. Unfortunately, it is the 'bad' ones we come into contact with, more often than not."

And...he lost me. "What do you mean, other realm?"

"There are a few different realms on the plane we live in. They can see, feel, and hear us, but not all of us can see, feel, and hear them; only the ones with our eyesight can, or if they had a certain connection with one of these creatures which still only enables them to have contact with that one being. Our ability to interact with them makes us qualified for dealing with them. Simply put, we are the bridge between the two realms. We can access either. Are you following me?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm following you. So, last night was kind of a test to see if I have what it takes?"

"Exactly. To be able to be my apprentice, it is of the utmost importance that you do not let fear cloud your judgment. The only reason she was able to hurt you was because you thought she could. Thinking she could touch and harm you threw down the barrier of our realms between you and that particular spirit, enabling her to have physical contact with you. It's not like that with all of the creatures from the other realm, mind you. Only certain ones."

It was almost surreal to be learning all of this; I almost wanted to tell myself he was crazy, and spewing a bunch on nonsense. Everyone else I knew would do exactly that. _Except Ma. _In an instant, it all clicked. _She knew what a spook does, and knew that I had what it took. That's why she contacted Mr. Kirkland to take me on as his apprentice. After it all, she's still the only one who really understands. _

Ol' Man England interrupted my thoughts with, "What ever did make you so terrified of spirits?"

Thinking about it, I found I didn't really have a good answer to that question. "Nothing really, other that a story told by an older boy at my school house a few years ago. That was the trigger, I guess you could say."

Kirkland glanced at me for a moment, before he sifted in his seat and stared off into space. Finally he said, "You shouldn't let others influence you so. It's not healthy."

For once, I didn't respond. The whole situation was so messed up and weird and bizarre, that I thought it best just to go along with it. _That's always what you've been good at._ I thought back to how terrified I was while trapped in the basement with the ghost woman, and remembered how she constantly cried two names; _Feliciano and Lovino. _They were both weird and unusual names; not ones I have ever heard of before. "Um, Mr. Kirkland, do you know who she was? The ghost woman, I mean."

His cat-like gaze fell upon me, as he sipped his earl gray tea (I wasn't a huge fan of that stuff, but it did have a rather pleasing aroma). "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. Her name was Bianca Vargas. It wasn't too long ago that she passed, actually." He stirred his tea casually like he as if he didn't sound like a man who had just admitted to murdering someone.

_I knew there was something off, _I thought, _this man's crazy! I should've never trusted him, or believed a word he said! _"Hm, maybe I'll stir some cream into it, just this once," he muttered absentmindedly. He stood up to go get some cream, and not only did he return with the cream, but also a knife. A _knife. _Not a spoon like any other normal person would use to stir tea.

"You know," I laughed nervously, "I think I better visit home now, I'm sure my mother's already missing me..." Forgetting all of my aching tiredness, I bolted to the front door, but Kirkland had already gotten there before me. _Darn those longer legs! Just wait until I'm older; I _will _be taller than him, and then _he'll _be the one that has to look up at _me!

He was holding the knife upright, and frowning down at me. "Don't be preposterous, you saw her yesterday. Right, now, she's most likely still relieved you are finally out of her hair. I know I would be."

"I'm not being a platypus! Now let me leave, you murderer!"

"Little boy, I am not a murderer. And the word isn't 'platypus', it's 'preposterous'! They are two different words entirely! The very notion you would mistake the two makes me physically ill...just when I think think it is impossible for you to get any more unintelligent, you go ahead and do the impossible."

I quickly spun around, and pinned him against the door, making him drop the knife with a loud _clank. _His eyebrows rose a fraction of an inch along with his eyes. He was slightly surprised by my quick actions, but not overly so. _His eyebrows remind me of two fat caterpillars...it even looks like they're breathing. _

"You are quite strong for your small stature. Now unhand me at once, and you shan't be punished. Oh, and if you're thinking I'm the one that killed Mrs. Vargas, you are sorely mistaken. That was an affair I had little to nothing to do with."

That still didn't explain the knife. "Then why didn't you bring a spoon to stir your tea instead of a knife?"

Kirkland rolled his eyes looking royally pissed. I hated it when he did that. I had only been there for a day and a half, yet he already treated me like he couldn't wait to get rid of me. He was always scowling, always giving me a disproving look, always just being a stupid, cranky Brit.

Before I could blink, Kirkland kicked my knee, catching me by surprise, forcing me to let him go in the process. Grabbing my arm, he flipped me onto the floor, pressed his knee against my stomach, and held my arms down. "What is the bloody matter with you?! You're more paranoid than an old, senile, war veteran! I am going to let you up now and you will calmly follow me back to the kitchen in a nice and orderly fashion. Alright?" I reluctantly nodded.

I felt the pressure of his knee to my gut release as he carefully maneuvered himself off of me. Standing up, I rubbed my sore writs glaring at Kirkland all the while. He repeated the ritual of his oh _so _infamous eye roll, before leading me back to the kitchen. "You're actually a natural at that," he commented with a mildly impressed tone. "You're surprisingly very strong and have a very good grip. If I wasn't as skilled as I am, I'm not sure if I would've been able to break through your hold at all. Of course, you still need training and conditioning, but you will learn all of that while under my tutelage."

We walked through the narrow and dark hallway until the reached the dinning area, where we were having the "breakfast". I sat down and looked up at the dimly lit, gray ceiling. It was no wonder Kirkland always acted like his pants were on _way _too tight; a person that always surrounded themselves with depressing things was bound to become depressed themselves. "If you didn't kill her and she died in your basement while you still lived here, then what in tarnation happened?"

Kirkland's face deepened in its ever-present scowl. He smacked my hand, reminding me quite a bit of Ma. "If memory serves, than I have already told you that I do not tolerate that kind of language from the likes of you. Young man, you have been acting very disrespectful, and if you don't stop your foolish antics soon, then I will be forced to take drastic measures."

"Like what?" I mocked.

He smiled at me. It wasn't normal smile, though; it was the kind of expression a cat gets when it is toying with its prey. "How would you like it if I happened to mention to your mum how much trouble you are giving me? Do you think she'd take to kindly to that?"

_Darn that stupid corn hole and his stupid face..._ "No."

Instantly, his face fell into an easy and friendly smile. "I'm glad we have an understanding. Now, you asked about Bianca Vargas, am I correct?" At my nodding, he continued, "That's actually a very interesting story. You see, Bianca was from the Italian mafia. Do you know what that is?" I shook my head that I did not know. "Alright then, the Italian mafia is a group of criminals that usually share some form of relation who operate based on their own laws and ethics. They, obviously, originate from Italy. They've migrated throughout Europe and have become quite the problem in places like England," _of course he would mention England, _"but they aren't too common in the Americas yet. There are criminal groups such as Italian Mafia's all over the world, but I won't get into that. Anyways, Bianca was a part of a mafia group that migrated to America. Unfortunately, they didn't realize Americans detest unfriendly foreigners. Long story short, the mafia group tried to assert their dominance, but by being one of the more weak and cowardly mafia associations, got beat up by the local Americans who took Bianca's two children, Feliciano and Lovino, and proceeded to wipe out the entire association, save for the two children. Some bloody wanker who wasn't too fond of me thought it would be absolutely _hilarious _to murder Bianca in my basement. They paid for that, mind you."

It was such an awful massacre he spoke of, but by the way he explained it, he made it sound no more horrifying than getting stung by a bee. "That's...awful. I mean, I know that it isn't right for Italians to try to boss us around, but that doesn't make it okay for us to wipe them out. At least the two boys are alright..."

Kirkland made a sound of annoyance. "Do you know how _irritating _it is to have a dead body in your house?! Blood stains about all types of fabric and furniture, and it just stinks up the whole place. On top of that, the spirit is not at rest, so it decides to stay and haunt my basement! I store all my rum down there, it is quality rum too mind you, but every time I go to fetch it, she's down there _wailing _in my ear."

"You're horrible!" I shouted. "People were killed out of fear and spite, for god's sake, a woman was _murdered _in _your _house, and all you have to say about it is how inconvenient it was for you! H-how _dare _you!" By the time I finished my mini rant, I was standing and only a few inches from his face.

The only reaction the old man showed was a slight increase of the scowl and a swipe of his hand to wipe off some spit I had accidentally spewed on his face. "Little boy, it is a big and cruel world out there. People die everyday. We both know this is a fact. Why should I care about a killing that transpired just because it was close to where I dwell? I _could _worry myself out of my mind every second of the day because I know that injustice is happening in this world every single time I breathe. I _could _dissolve into tears because I know that as I am speaking to you in this moment in time, a small child has been violated in horrible ways, an honest person has just gotten cheated, and war continues on. It doesn't make a difference is it happens outside my front door, or back in England. There isn't any point in worrying about something you can't do anything to change. Being that way is how you survive in life."

While his words disgusted ad horrified me, I knew he was right. That still didn't change the fact that he revolted me with his words. Clenching my jaw, I thought it best to leave the matted alone, least I wanted to get lectured for another hour.

Abruptly, he stood up in his chair, causing me to stumble and fall into mine. Grabbing his dark, heavy cloak off the back of his chair, he motioned for me to follow him. I trudged after him to the front door.

Yawning I said, "Where are you going?"

Kirkland slipped on his black boots, began lacing them up and replied, "_We're _going to the river."

My eyelids drooped in exhaustion at the very thought of staying awake for more that five minutes. Before I had been keeping awake out of fear, but now that all the fright had gone out of me, I truly felt the effects of staying awake for the past twenty-four hours. "What about sleep?"

"By god, stop complaining so profusely. You'll sleep when I tell you that you can sleep. You are going to have to get used to days without sleep being a spook. Now get you shoes on! Bloody hell, you can't possibly tell me _those _are your shoes?! They look as if they were made out of pigs' skin!"

I shot him a glare. "They _are _made out of pigs' skin."

"That just will simply not suffice. I suppose I will have to provide better foot-wear for you as well."

It was cold outside, making me long for a thick cloak such as Kirkland's. "And, why exactly are we going to the river?"

"I'll tell you when you need to know," was his response. "However, what I _will _tell you is that this will be your fist job as a _spook's _apprentice. That is to say, don't start panicking when things get messy."

**[1] I know that it is impossible for Alfred to get mid-sun madness under the conditions he was in; I just thought it sounded like something he would say. FYI, for those who don't know, mid-sun madness is kind of like someone going insane because the sun is up all day without setting. So, people who live in certain parts of Alaska could get it, or penguins in Antarctica. XD (If this is wrong, someone please tell me and I will correct my mistake).**

**A big thanks to everyone who took time out of their day (or night) to read this fict. of mine! You don't know how much that means to me! Please, follow, favorite, and REVIEW! Opinions, ideas, criticism, heck, even ****_flames _****are welcome! **

**Until next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**First off, a big thanks to everyone who followed and favored this story! Special thanks to-**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: Thanks! And here you go!**

**theSardonyx: Sorry if it's making him a little OOC; Should I lighten up a little on the complaining? And thanks, that was my favorite line of that chapter. XD**

**NightTheCat: Gah! You're so nice to me! And yeah, I think every anime fan on the planet wants a life like that, until they actually get one. If we had lives like anime characters, then there wouldn't be any time to read and gush about them! Where's the fun in that? Oh, and good luck with that ghost. They're pesky things. **

**-for reviewing! You guys rock!**

**FWI, there's a lot of important foreshadowing in this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: Don't own Hetalia or TSA.**

At the river, Kirkland and I met couple of pretty girls and we all got wet together. Well, it was mainly the old man and the girls (or river nymphs, as he later called them) that got wet, but somewhere in the middle of their three-some fun _I _was dragged in, and it became a four-some. Things got _really _crazy after the third guy showed up. Too bad he was asleep.

If you are currently thinking something like, "How could Arthur drag an innocent 14-year-old boy into something like that?!" then your mind in is a deep gutter, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. I, personally, blame your parents. But for those of you that think that way (and I guarantee it's probably most of you) I will explain to you what _really _happened so you don't get too excited.

Kirkland dragged me all the way to the edge of town where the great Yules River resided. It was rather secluded in the forest without a single soul in sight. The most civilization we saw on our trek was a few log cabins.

The closer we got to the river, the louder a faint giggling had gotten. Right before the river came into view, the old man stopped me. "Listen closely," he whispered, "this is how our job works. A family that resides not too far from here reported to the mayor that their son went missing after a trip to the river. The mayor came to me, and asked if I knew of any creatures from the other realm that lives in the Yules river. After I said yes, he paid me to investigate and find the boy."

"Is that how you get all your tasks, or, um, jobs?"

Kirkland frowned at me, and motioned for me to talk in a softer tone. "Not so loud, they have a great sense of hearing! To answer your question, yes, that is how I get most of my missions and almost all of my pay, more often than not." He swiftly turned on his heal, clasped me on the shoulder, leaned down and whispered, "Here's what I want you to do; you will climb the tree approximately twenty-seven feet south of a big, gray stone the sits by the riverside in the direction I will be walking. The tree is recognizable by the missile-toe growing in its high branches, and the poison ivy growing at the base of the trunk. You will watch and observe me until I call for you. No matter what, you are not to utter a single word, or do anything that might provoke them. Understood?"

I nodded. "Just one question; who exactly are 'they'? And do you think they have the missing guy?"

"That's two questions, actually. 'They' are water nymphs, and I am almost certain they have the boy." He turned to leave, but I grabbed his arm forcing him to stop. "What is it _now?" _he whispered irritably.

"Just _one _more question; how were the nymphs able to take the guy if he couldn't even see them?"

Kirkland gave me a tired smile. "You're actually asking a smart question for once. A lot of the creatures of the other realm can choose if they want to be seen by human's or not—that is to say, they have the power to lift the invisible barrier between our world and theirs that prevents normal humans from seeing them. It's just people like us that can see them all the time."

"Why didn't you tell me that when you were explaining all this magical stuff?"

He simply shrugged. "It must've slipped my mind." He spun back around once more causing his black cloak to ripple in the wind, and motioned for me to follow him but to be quiet about it.

I sneaked behind him, doing my best not to make a sound. By the patronizing glares the old man shot back my way, I didn't think I was doing a very good job of sneaking.

After a while, the river began to come into view. The rush of the ever-flowing waves masked any sound I could make. The laughing started to sound like it was coming from all around me. Pinpointing the rock that sat by the riverside, I hastily made my way in the direction Kirkland had said the tree was. It wasn't hard to find; it looked exactly like how Kirkland described it. (It helped that no other tree had poison ivy growing at it's roots. I was careful to avoid that). Scampering up the tree, I realized why Kirkland had made such a big fuss about which tree I climbed. It had a spectacular view of the whole river, and I could see Kirkland clear as day. It was far enough that they wouldn't spot me, yet close enough that I could still listen in.

Kirkland picked up a smooth stone, tested it's weight, and threw it into the river so that it skipped across the surface downstream once before being carried off into into the distance by the ruthless waves. _How did he skip a stone across a flowing stream? _I wondered.

A few seconds later, two of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen in my life rose up out of the water. One had long blond hair that streamed down her back with unforgiving, dark sapphire eyes. The other had curly brown hair just as long, with much kinder and softer celery-colored eyes. They both had elf-like features that gave away the fact that they weren't human. In one word, I could describe the best thing about those two nymphs; naked. They were 100%, completely and totally naked. To my 14-year-old hormones, it felt like god had descended down from the havens and bestowed upon me Canadian bacon. The kind they serve in haven.

The worst thing about the two nymphs was how their hair covered their ditties. No matter how I twisted and turned to get one small, glorious peak, the long locks of hair refused to budge.

"Hello Arthur," said the brunette, "It has been a very long time since you last visited!"

"Yes," said the blond, "it has. What you want? Have you found big brother?" Even with a scowl that could rival Kirkland's, she looked stunning.

The old man laughed (laughed; actually _laughed_) and replied, "Elizabeta, Natalia! You two didn't change one bit! How have the two lovely ladies been?"

Elizabeta, the brunette, giggled while Natalia, the blond, deepened her frown. "Look here, puny English man," said Natalia, "we did nothing wrong. Go home. Shoo!" She splashed him with water.

_They both talk really weird; especially that Natalia, _I thought.

Elizabeta scowled at her companion and smacked her arm. "Nat! We don't get visitors very often! Be nice, we don't want to scare him away!"

Natalia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "I apologize for not being as much as a whore as you are."

"Nat, I''m not a whore!" the brunette cried.

The meaner nymph sighed loudly and obnoxiously. "We have been over this. You are big slut and whore."

Elizabeta glared at the blond, knelt down to the surface of the water, and splashed Natalia. "Take that back! Take it back!"

"But it is true! No take backs! I tell Arthur what you did!"

"Don't you dare!"

"A week ago, Elizabeta—"

She got cut off when the brunette tackled her into the river. The two were at each other with full on flying fists and_—holy, is that a frying pan!?_

The two women fought it out until Natalia managed to hold Elizabeta under the water for and extended period of time allowing her to say. "Elizabeta took a human male last week! I saw her!" She said this in the tone of someone tattling to the teacher.

The brunette burst out of the water, but she wasn't gasping for air. _Probably has gills, or something, _I figured. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone!"

"Promises are meant to be broken!"

"You're just saying that because your brother Ivan gave up immortality to get away from you two centuries ago! I can't believe you're still upset about that!"

"I'm sure he's still alive out there, somewhere..."

"Face it, Nat, he's dead. Humans don't usually don't live past seventy years. He wouldn't have survived for two centuries."

"You're lying!" Nat cried, and burst into tears right then and there. She then dove back into the river, and disappeared under the the crashing waves.

Elizabeta stood smiling at Kirkland, while the old man continued to stare worriedly at the spot where Natalia has gone. "So you met someone," he said, breaking the awkward silence.

Elizabeta's smile widened considerably as a blush overtook her entire face. "I guess you could say that. He just came walking by the river so elegantly that I just couldn't help myself! So I swept him away with me, so that we might get to be together."

"More like so you can stare at his ugly face for the rest of eternity while you do creepy things." Natalia popped up from out of the river to stick her tongue at Elizabeta.

"Not true!" claimed Elizabeta, "We're happy together, Nat! Stop sticking your long, hideous nose into other people's love life!"

"I don't call a sick obsession love!"

"You're sure one to talk! You tried to get your own brother to marry you! That's disgusting!"

"He was adopted! Males can't be river nymphs, stupid!"

"I know that, stupid!"

"You back to whatever polluted pond in Hungary you came from!"

"_You _go back to whatever cesspool _you _came from in the backwash country, Belarus!"

"You need to return the male."

"No I do not!"

Simultaneously, both girls turned toward Kirkland and yelled, "Arthur!" They looked expectantly at him, waiting for him to take a side.

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly and said, "I'm sorry Elizabeta, but I'm going to have to side with Natalia on this issue. I bet he has family that would miss him. It's a bit cruel to take someone from their home so suddenly like that. Also, you'd have to keep him in an eternal sleep to live with you down there. If he really is that young, that would mean he never got a chance to live his life out."

Natalia gave the other nymph a smug, satisfied look while the nymph on the receiving end of the look pouted. "B-but, I've never liked a human quite this much..."

"If you really like him, than you'd release him. This is the wrong way to go about it," Kirkland pointed out.

Elizabeta looked down, ashamed of herself. "W-w-will you make sure he gets home safely? For me?"

Kirkland gave the girl a fond look. "Well, of course! It would be no trouble at all."

"I will retrieve him!" sad Natalia.

"No, I will!" Before either of them said anything else, they both dived beneath the waves, disappearing.

Once they were gone, Kirkland called, "Alfred! Alfred, come down now!"

Scampering down the tree, I sprinted to where Ol' Man England was, carefully avoiding the poison ivy at my feet.

"I'm going to introduce you to Elizabeta and Natalia. You are _not _to say anything, except, 'I'm ever so pleased to meet you both' and smile, got it?"

I nodded. "Got it. But why are they so...crazy and messed up? Are all nymphs like that, or are they just—" I stopped talking when I saw Elizabeta and Natalia looking at me with angry eyes, holding a sleeping boy a few years older than myself. "Uh...hi girls, I am ever so pissed to meet your potatoes, wait, that wasn't right..." I laughed nervously.

Kirkland put his head in his hands and murmured, "Bloody hell..."

"Arthur, who is this?" said Elizabeta.

"Yes, are we allowed to punish this puny child?" asked Natalie.

Sighing, he replied, "No, I'm sorry, I can't allow that. This is Alfred, my apprentice. I apologize perfused for his cruel and _ignorant _words. He's still very much new, and untrained."

"Trained?" I protested, "Am I some sort of donkey or some—"

Kirkland clamped one of his smelly hands over my mouth. It was horrible; it was clammy and smelled of dried fish. He gave a nervous laugh and said, "Oh Alfred, you're so _funny. _As I was _saying, _I assure you, he will get punished when we arrive back at the house. Oh dear, is that the young man? I guess Alfred and I will take him home now, if you—"

The two woman pulled the boy away when Kirkland made a grab for him. "Now wait just a minute," said Elizabeta, "we'll give him to you in exchange for your young apprentice."

"I agree," stated Natalia. "This airhead is actually speaking logic, for once in her miserable life. The child of yours needs to learn some manners. He is most rude. Give us the boy, and you can be on your way."

"Oh dear," said Kirkland, "I was afraid something like this would happen. I'm sorry ladies, but I can't let you take Alfred here. It's such a pain to replace a spook's apprentice; they die so easily, and yet are so rare."

"Then I'm keeping Rodrick here," said Elizabeta, clutching the boy closer to her chest. "Come on Natalia, let us take our leave."

Lightning fast, Kirkland grabbed Elizabeth's arm, halting the two women as they were about to dive back under the turning river. "My sincerest apologizes," he really did look apologetic, "but I cannot let you take the boy either. I hope you understand."

Once more he made a grab for the boy, or Rodrick, but Elizabeta hissed, baring sharp, pointed teeth. In fact, it seemed as if her whole body made some sort of transformation. Her skin became scaly, her eyes turned black, the nails on her fingers elongated to a crisp point, and the flesh on her hands morphed to form webbed fingers. Bottom line, it was terrifying.

"By the Queen, why does this always happen to me?" Kirkland complained. "Good thing I was prepared. Alfred, keep an eye on Natalia while I deal with Elizabeta." I looked over to the blonde, who underwent the same transformation as her counterpart. She smirked at me before she grabbed me, and dragged me into the water.

Being a river, I thought it would be pretty shallow. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Immediately, I knew I couldn't still be in a river. We seemed to be in a _huge _pool of water; if I didn't know any better, I wouldn't have thought we were transported to a different place all together the minute she pulled me under water. _Wait, that's probably exactly what happened. _The weird thing was, I wasn't frightened very much. Maybe it's because she wasn't a ghost and was alive; I don't know. All I know it what happened next.

I tried screaming in her face, which didn't do much; she remained not phased. Which was extremely stupid on my part, considering it made me lose a lot of oxygen. At that point, I knew if I didn't get out soon, I would drown. _Would that be so bad? _Whispered a voice that sounded like me, but at the same time didn't. _Why would you want to leave? It wouldn't be so bad. She's so pretty too..._And she was. I got transfixed with her beautiful face, smiling down at me..._Wait a minute, _I thought, _Natalia doesn't smile. Not once in that conversation with Arthur and Elizabeta did she once do anything remotely like smiling. This is..._

I heard a very faint voice call my name. _"Alfred!" _they cried. "_Alfred, don't be a sodding idiot!"_

_Ma? _I thought. _Not Ma...she wouldn't be down here... _

"_Alfred!" _it called again, _"You'd think even a creature as dull as you would be able to tell when they're drowning!"_

In an instant, I snapped into motion. Grabbing Natalia's hair, I yanked _hard, _forcing her to release me. I wasn't much of a swimmer, but that didn't mean I couldn't do it altogether. Kicking the nymph in the face to delay her, I swam as hard as I could towards the surface. It was difficult; I was already dragged so far deep, and I was running out of air very quickly. I was extremely light headed, and it felt as if my lungs would explode at any given moment.

_Don't think about that, _I told myself, _swim harder. Faster. Think of the riverside with it's glorious, heavenly air..._

Taking a quick look below me to see if the evil nymph was gaining on me, I was surprised to see her drifting through the water, completely motionless. When she moved so that I was able to see her face, I was shocked.

She was unconscious.

Looking up, I found there was no surface; just an endless about of water in front of me. I began to panic. I thought of the riverside and of Arthur, feeling desperate tears come to my face. I wanted air. I was going to drown and there wasn't anything I could do about it. _I can still swim. _I reached up to propel myself upwards, thinking of nothing but the riverside and air. I was shocked to see the top on my arm disappear, and the feeling of cool air through my fingers. With as much strength as I had left, I heaved myself upwards, breaking through the surface of the river. I gasped in air greedily, before I realized I was being carried downstream with the current.

I felt a hand grasp my own, and looked up to see Kirkland grasping my hand, and hauling me out of the river. He must have flung something in Elizabeta's eyes, for she was screeching, and clawing at them. In her panic, she dropped Roderick.

Kirkland grabbed the young man before telling me to run. He didn't need to tell me twice.

After pulling a good distance between ourselves and the nymphs, Kirkland stopped, set Roderick down, then sat down himself. Panting, he said, "By the Queen, it's hard to carry another person and run. By the way, how did you manage to get passed Natalia?" I simply shrugged, too tired to say anything. "Do not just shrug me off, this is important. While nymphs aren't very powerful, they aren't exactly easy to defeat once they drag you in the water. Because of how well you could restrain me, I thought you could handle yourself, and wouldn't be as stupid as to let her grab you; apparently, I was wrong. What exactly happened?"

My heart was beating so rapidly and my lungs were on fire. I had to rest a minute more before I could actually manage words. "W-when she first pulled my under, I was kind of surprised that I wasn't scared or anything. Then I heard someone calling me, and Natalia was smiling, and that's when I realized I was drowning. I kind of pulled her off me, kicked her in the face, and swam to the top."

"Didn't she swim after you?"

"I guess I kicked kind of hard, because she fell unconscious."

Kirkland's eyes widened considerably as mouth hung slightly agape. "Bloody hell...I knew you were strong, but that's just...that's just impossible." He cleared his throat, and composed himself once more. "How did-how did you manage to get to the top of the river?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking of how much I wanted to reach the surface because I was kind of drowning, and I wanted to breathe."

Kirkland nodded, like that made perfect sense. "Right then. I'll ask you more questions when we get back, but for now we should work on getting Rodrick here home before he wakes up. Do you think you can carry him?"

"I can try." Bending down, I lifted the young man over my shoulder. I didn't see what the old man was complaining about; Roderick was as light as a feather.

I followed Kirkland to Roderick's residence. It didn't take much longer, and the whole trek was in silence.

Once we got there, we sorted everything out with his family (who barely spoke English; apparently, they were from some weird place called "Austria") and went on our merry way.

"We need to stop downtown. I have to collect my earnings from the mayor for retuning the boy. We'll visit Roderick at a later date to interrogate him on how much he remembers."

_Downtown is where Mattie works, _I thought with a smile. "Do I have to go with you to see the mayor?" I asked.

Casting me a suspicious glance the old man replied, "I don't see where else you would go, and it would be a good idea to introduce my new apprentice...why?"

"I was wondering if I could stop by the town's library."

Kirkland lifted on of his caterpillar eyebrows in a genuinely surprised manner. "I was unaware a farm boy could read. What in the world would would you want in a library."

I shot him an annoyed look, "Actually I _can _read, and not just English; I can read Latin too. But I wanted to see my brother, Mathew. He's apprenticed to Mr. Wang, the current book keeper there."

"I was kidding, of course I know you can read. And for your information, I was already informed who's the book keeper at the library," the old man grumbled. "You have an unhealthy attachment to people, you know that?"

I scowled at him. _What's his problem? _"It's called being a normal human being. You should try it sometime."

"Hardy har har, very funny."

"So, can I go or not?"

"I guess there isn't any harm in it...but don't do anything stupid, and don't leave until I come and retrieve you. I might take a while, and I might be only a few minutes; it depends."

Once we got to town, I remembered that I was still wet. I had completely forgotten I had gotten drenched in water because of the adrenaline rush that comes with running for your life. I had mostly dried, but it was still very damp in certain places that made me very uncomfortable. _Maybe Mattie can give me a change of cloths..._

I ran throughout the town, feeling a sense of freedom that I had sorely missed ever since I found out about my apprenticeship to Arthur Kirkland. I loved the familiar smells and sounds I heard while running through the streets. A few people I passed greeted me with a wave and friendly expression, while others yelled at me.

Before I knew it, I stood in front of the small, humble book shop. It was a small, quaint wooden building nestled in between a bank and barbershop. Much to my dismay, the sign in the window of the library read "closed". _That's not right, _I thought, _I know it should be open this time on a Thursday. Something's not right..._

I tried the door, but it was locked up tight. Fortunately, locks were such fragile things; all I had to do was apply a little pressure and—bingo! The lock snapped.

I opened the door wide and strode inside. Everything was neatly in place; I had no reason to believe there was something amiss, other than the cool chill I got up my spine. No, no matter how ordinary things looked, there was definitely something not right. _And it's my job, as the spook's apprentice and neighborhood hero to find out what!_

I proceeded to walk around the small library/book repair and shop (really, Mr. Wang did about everything book-wise), looking for any clue I could find. My search proved to be fruitless; everything was in order, and just as clean as it always was.

_I guess I was wrong, _I though glumly. _I'm just too hyped up because of the whole nymph thing. They're probably out on a lunch break early, or something like that. _

My gaze wondered to the staircase that led up to Mr. Wang's and Matthew's apartment that sat atop of the book store. _Well, I didn't come here for nothing. Might as well snoop around Mattie's room to see if he has any secrets worth blackmail material for future reference. Might come in handy. Hmm..I better steal some cloths while I'm at it. My own damp one's are getting pretty uncomfortable..._

I walked up the stairs to the door that lead into the apartment. I expected to have to break another lock, but much to my surprise, the door was unlocked. _That's odd._

The first door on my right had a carving of a red, Chinese dragon, along with some Chinese scripture to go along with it underneath. It was Yao Wang's room. I knew I really shouldn't have, but the sudden surge of curiosity was simply too strong. I tried to ignore it the best I could, and almost did if not for that memory of my conversation with Mattie the morning I was taken away by the spook hadn't happened to pop up in my mind.

Somewhere, probably underneath this building, there was a whole archive that contained a detailed file on everything single person living in the town. Maybe beyond that as well...I could tell Matthew was holding out on me. Everyone in the town included Arthur Kirkland. _If I could just get my hands on his file, _I figured, _then maybe that way I could know how more about who exactly I'm apprenticed to. _

It was simply too tempting. I had to get that file; I just had to. Gazing at the crimson, majestic dragon, I knew just where door the the archives would be.

_You can't hide bind your fancy British accent anymore, Kirkland. I'll kind what you're hiding, you just wait and see._

**Sorry that last bit was sloppy; truth was, I originally intended to include a whole scene with Alfred and Tori (featuring a transgender Poland), but that was making the chapter so freaking long, that I figured it was best to save that for another time. **

**Please follow, favorite and REVIEW! ADVICE, CRITICISM, IDEAS, THOUGHTS, WHATEVER ARE ALL VERY MUCH APPRECIATED AND WELCOME!**

**I love reviews. **

**Thanks for taking the time out of your day/night to read this little fanfict. of mine.**

**P.S., I just thought of the ending, so there's a very, ****_very _****good chance I'll finish something for once in my life.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry this is late; Google Chrome was giving me sass, and wouldn't let me log into FF so I downloaded FireFox. **

**A big thanks to everyone who followed, favored, and a BIG SAPPY THANKS to:**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: I love writing a young Alfred; it's so much fun! But I do often worry if I'm making me OOC or not.**

**NightTheCat: It's alright that you got cut off; it added another review to the review count! So it works out for everyone! Yay! And I also feel embarrassment when a character gets caught in the act; isn't it weird how that works? I'm glad you like my story and take the time to write nice and fun reviews for it. Say hi to Rabid for me! **

**Thank you both so much for taking time out of your day/night to review! You don't know how much reviews make me happy and encourage me to update sooner!**

**On a side note, the ending of this chapter was may favorite part to write so far. The beginning? Not so much. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own what I said I don't own in the previous chapter's disclaimer. **

Okay, so maybe I didn't know the specific location of the door to the archive room. It wasn't in Mattie's room, I couldn't find anything in the shop, or kitchen, and, no matter what I tried, I could not break the locks on Mr. Wang's door. Unfortunately, that probably meant the doorway to the archives was in there...It only made sense that they would be in the most protected part of the building.

I sunk to the floor in Mattie's bedroom, completely bored with nothing to do. _I wonder how much trouble I'll be in when Mr. Wang finds out I broke the locks. _After running that scenario through my mind, I shivered with terror. _Best to get out of here before he knows..._

I stood up, shut all the doors I had opened, and began to walk down the stairs, back to the store part of the building.

On the fifth stair I stepped on in my decent, I noticed something that I hadn't while walking up the stairs; it creaked. A lot. Normally, I'm not a stickler for small imperfections like that, but I hated creaky stairs. There was just something about them that bugged the snot out of me.

I stepped down a few more stairs, so that I could bend down and be at eye-level with the creaky one to see why it was making that horrible noise that always reminded me of the noise a miniature banshee would make if I happened to ever step on one.

Squinting my eyes, I could see that there was a very, _very _small grove on the edge of the wood that looked almost the size of a carpenter ant. On an even closer examination, I saw there was a slight crack between the surface of the single stair, and the rest of it. I had a theory about what that might be, and with how crazy everything was turning out lately, I knew there was a good solid chance I was right.

I jammed my pinkie finger in the small hole, and, sure enough, the top of the stair lifted a fraction of an inch, encouraging me to slip more of my hand under the wooden plank, lifting it up even further. It didn't take long before I completely removed the wooden top to the stair, allowing me to look at what lied below.

Smiling, I confirmed my suspicions. For there was, indeed, a narrow latter that descended into darkness. _No wonder these stairs are so wide._

I was about to start climbing down, when I remembered how I'd spend the previous night; alone in a cold basement with nothing to protect me except a small, dwindling flame.

I couldn't go down without a candle, what if there was some sort of ghost down there that protected the archives?! Yeah, I knew that it was all "physiological" and they couldn't hurt you unless you thought they could, and all that jazz, but I didn't want to take any chances.

From being at the library to bug Mattie before, I knew exactly where Mr. Wang stored his candles. I sprinted down the rest of the stairs, clambered to the front desk, and opened the small drawer that sat just under Mr. Wang's ever present calligraphy set. Quickly as possible, I grabbed one of the crimson candles, lit it with the nearby matches, and set off back to the ladder hidden under the stair.

It was harder to climb down a latter with one hand then I had expected, but not impossible. After nearly ten minutes of climbing, I began to grow nervous.

I really had no idea where Mr. Wang and Matthew were; what if they came back only to discover that the book store had been broken into, with their most secretive archive breached? An archive that only a select few were supposed to know about. Kirkland had been very vague as to when he'd come to retrieve me. What if he came to get me, only to uncover my horrendous deed?

In all of my worrying, I hadn't realized I'd reached the bottom of the latter, and had been walking to only god-knows-where for a solid few minutes. The hallway was narrow; extremely so. It passageway only continued to get thinner, and thinner, so thin that I could no longer walk shoulder-to-shoulder, having to instead resort to slinking my way through the passageway with my chest pressed up against one wall, and by back against the other.

Just before I was about to turn back because I wasn't sure how much longer I could take of the constricting hallway, it opened up into a small room, barely big enough for two people, with a big, iron door standing in front of my nose.

I gasped in a few deep breaths, relived to be freed from the passageway. Looking at the door, I knew that I wouldn't be able to break it down, no matter how hard I tried. There was only one thing left to do.

Banging obnoxiously against the door with my foot and fist, I shouted, "HELLO! Is anyone in there? Please open up! My name is Alfred F. Jones, and I'm the spook's apprentice!"

"_Identity confirmed."_

I screamed a very manly scream, (okay, maybe my voice cracked a bit...or a lot...), jumped at least a foot in the air, almost dropping the red candle in the process. A voice had came from _inside _that door, and it...it didn't sound right.

"_Voice association complete. Welcome,_ AHHHHHHHHHHH_!" _I flinched as I heard the voice replicate my scream in my own voice. It was freaky, to say the least.

The metal door swung open so fast, it almost hit me in the face. Jumping back, I fell on my butt. _Ugh, that's going to hurt in the morning..._

Getting up like an old man while rubbing my bum, I took my first, cautious steps into the cold chamber that awaited me.

Shinning the candlelight around, I found that I was surrounded by stacks and stacks of files piled on shelves, each one listing a name. Some were quite thick, while others where very thin. Randomly taking one of the thinner files off the shelf, I opened the small booklet and shown the dimming light over the information.

"Amorest, Irine," I read. There was other information about her date of birth, physical description, biological parents, etc. I put the folder exactly where I found it, before I grabbed a thicker one close by. _Amreggan, Jerome, _was the name I read. He was quite a bit older and had a criminal record, which explained the thicker folder. "So it's all arranged in alphabetical order...that'll make this easier."

For the next ten minutes, I flipped through the archives until I finally found the section I was looking for; the K's.

"Karma, Faith. Psh, what a horrible name...Keller, Dylan, nope...Kemoski, Tabitha, nope...Kempelle Juliana, nope...this is going to take a while." After a few more name readings, I finally found it. Kirkland, Arthur's file was resting in my very hands. "Let's see what you're hiding, Kirkland comma Arthur!"

Opening the file, my eyes were greeted with the standard information that was in the beginning of every file:

Name: Kirkland, Arthur

Origin of Birth: Framlingham, England

Biological Parentage: Allistor and Diana Kirkland **[1]**

It said a few more boring things that I wasn't interested in. I skipped the page that listed all his blood relatives and the information on his immigration (that's all the boring stuff) but stopped when it listed his job occupation history.

He started as a spook's apprentice at just twelve years old, and took up the position when he was only sixteen. Being a spook was the only thing he had ever done.

Guiltily, I flipped through the pages, but when I saw something about his parent's deaths', I stopped. Mattie was right. If I wanted to know more about Kirkland, I should ask, not pry through his personal records like a creepy stalker.

Putting Kirkland's file back on the shelf, I turned to go back. _Looks like this was all for nothing, _I thought glumly.

Stepping out of the archive room and back in the little room with the big, metal door, I said, "I guess this is goodbye, big metal door with a creepy voice."

"_Goodbye, _AHHHHHHHHHHH_! Have a nice day." _And with that, the big door slammed shut, locking me out of the archives' room.

Squeezing back in the narrow hallway, I thought how odd it was that I was so easily able to get inside the archive room...I'd thought with how paranoid Mr. Wang always was, and how secretive the archive room is, that there would be better security. I shrugged it off, and figured I should just be grateful that I was able to get into the archive room at all.

As I reached the latter, I took one last look back at the passageway that descended into darkness, but found I was no longer afraid of what was ahead because I knew there was nothing to be afraid of. Laughing at how scared I was at first, I climbed back up the latter, removed the wooden plank of the stair I came out of, hoisted myself out, and back into the little bookshop.

Smiling that I hadn't been caught, I blew out my candle, slipped it in my pocket and was about to head out when I heard my brother's voice coming from up the stairs say, "Really, Mr. Wang was right behind me! He could be here any moment..."

_Who is he talking to? _I walked up the stairs as silently as I could, praying that Mattie and whoever he was talking to didn't hear me.

"Oh Matthew, don't be that way! Take some risks every once in a while! If you didn't, I'm afraid you wouldn't be awesome enough for the _unbelievably_ awesome me."

The voice was definitely male and accented. I released a breath I didn't know I was holding when I realized it wasn't a girl he had in there. Not that I didn't want my brother to be happy and everything, but because I would've been mad if he had gotten a girlfriend and hadn't told me about it.

I walked further up the stairs, following the voices to Mattie's room. I didn't bother knocking (I never did) but severely wished I had when I saw the position Mattie was in with another _boy._

The two _boys _were wrapped in each others arms, passionately kissing. I stood there, dumbstruck at what I was witnessing.

As soon as they heard the door open, Matthew pulled away from the seemingly albino boy, said "Mr. Wang, I can expl—" but the words died on his lips when he saw who it really was, standing before him.

"Wow, it's a green-eyed version of Matthew!" said the albino. "Now _that's_ awesome!"

"That's not a green-eyed version of myself, that's my brother, Alfred. Wha-what are you doing here, Alfred?"

Still in a state of shock, I shakily raised my hand and pointed at my brother, "Y-you..", I moved my hand to the other boy, "a-and you..." I trailed off, dropped my hand, and continued to stare.

Matthew got up off the bed and moved over to me. Grabbing my shoulders he said, "I-it wasn't what it looked like, Al! I can explain, we were just, uh—"

"No, my Mattie-bird here is wrong. We were doing exactly what it looked like."

"Gilbert, you better shu—"

"Passionately making out. And it was almost as awesome as myself."

That seemed to snap me out of my zombie-like trance. I clutched my eyes and screamed, "OH MY SWEET MARY MOTHER IN HEAVEN! MY EYES! MY EEEEEEEEEYES!"

"Alfred!" Matthew pleaded, "Please, try to calm down and I'll explain—"

"Don't touch me, you liar!" I shouted, and slapped his hands away from me. "How could you—what did you—how—oh, never mind you, I'll just _leave _you, and you-y-y-y-y-y-you can go back to, w-whatever!"

Mattie didn't even let me move a muscle, before he grabbed me again. "Alfred...please, at least listen to me! Let me explain, please!"

I shook my head, certain Kirkland would be there to collect me soon. "Sorry Matthew, I—I have to go. Like you said, Mr. Wang will be here soon anyway."

"Mattie-bird, you should listen to your brother. I wouldn't mind some more alone time together before Wang shows up."

I scowled at the albino, or Gilbert, as Mattie called him. "Hey!" I shouted, then pointed at the silver-haired boy that talked strangely. "_You're_ the one that was smacking on _my _brother!"

I was angry to say the least. In a fraction of a section, a million scenarios ran rapid though my head, all of them being of how the red-eyed demon seduced my poor, innocent sister, ahem, I mean, brother. I proceeded to shout my battle cry, "You stupid _UN_-awesome turd!" Then charged at him.

He responded with, "NO ONE CALLS THE AWESOME ME UN-AWESOME!" Then did a poor attempt at attacking me.

He made a lazy attempt at punching me, but it was so halfhearted (even if I did call him "UN-awesome", he still would never want to actually hurt a blood relative of his beloved "Mattie-bird") that I simply grabbed his fist, twisted it so that it was behind his back, and slammed him against the wall. "Matthew, run while you still have the chance!"

"Both of you, SHUT UP CALM DOWN RIGHT NOW!"

The albino stopped struggling to stare at Matthew, while my grip slackened to do the same. We both continued staring with slack jaws, making Mattie squirm under our gaze.

"Please, eh?"

Rolling my eyes, I dropped my arms, and plopped myself on the rumpled blankets of the cot. "Fine, I'll let you talk, but you better make it quick. Kirkland will probably be here soon to pick me up, and that man is more temperamental than a horny chihuahua in heat."

Matthew just rolled his eyes at my comment already being used to my bizarre comparisons, but as for Gilbert, he just stared at me with a violated expression on his face.

Sitting next to me, Matthew bit his lip nervously, before saying so quietly I almost couldn't hear, "I guess the first think I should tell you is that, well, I don't...I don't find myself liking girls, you know, _that _way."

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What way?"

Matthew's face turned red as he stuttered, "Uh, um, you know, to, er, to _kiss _and do other things...What I'm saying is that I...I wouldn't like kissing a girl."

"So, you're saying that you _do _like doing things like kissing with a boy," I said slowly.

Matthew wouldn't meet my eyes. "Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Are...are you mad?"

I looked at him like he was an idiot. "Mad? No, of course not. I'm just...Matthew, I'm just sad that you didn't feel like you could tell me this about you until I found out like this. I thought...I thought you trusted me."

"I do, of course I do!" he protested. "It's just," his voice changed to a darker, lower tone, "you know, people aren't so accepting of boys liking other boys, or girls liking other girls. You know what happens to people like me if Gilbert of I was found out. I didn't know how you felt about it, and I didn't know if you'd shun me, or hate me or—"

"Shut up," I said. "I can't believe you'd think I'd do that, you stupid fart bag. You know me better than that. Yeah, I do admit, it's...unexpected...but, in all honestly, I'm...I'm not all that surprised. There was always something different about you. And you never really did have any crushes on girls, now that I think about it. Huh."

Matthew's face broke into a huge grin, and he did something he rarely ever does; he threw his arms around me in a big bear hug. "Thank you Al, you don't know how much that means to me."

"No problem, bro," I wrapped my arms around the blonde in return, before we both let go and laughed.

"I hate to break such a good brother moment," said Gilbert, "but what _where _you doing here? Are those twigs in your hair? And why are you sort of damp...?"

I looked down at my mud splattered cloths that were _still _kind of wet, my torn shoes, and reached up to my hair only to feel a few small twigs in it. "Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. Meh, it'll take too long to explain."

Matthew cast me a suspicious glance. "Alfred, you do look kind of awful...What in maple happened to you? Wait a minute, was it _you _that broke the lock on the front door?"

My eyes widened. "I had forgotten about that as well. Uh, if Mr. Wang asks, I was _never here. _Don't even mention me."

"Alfred, what—"

"I'll tell you everything later Mattie. The old man is probably done with collecting now, so I better get outside. Bye!"

I walked out the door, and shut it behind me. As I was walking away, I faintly heard Gilbert say, "I'm glad he's accepting of us. But...he's a little off, isn't he?"

I felt a stab of betrayal when Mattie replied, "Yeah, he's always been different, not like us different, something a little deeper..."

When I stepped outside I sunk to the ground and laughed bitterly. It figures; in a room with gay people, _I _was still the abnormal one. Like I said before; no matter how close Matthew and I were, there was always one thing that forced us apart; I had _green _eyes. **[2]**

A few minutes later, Arthur came to collect me. As I looked up at the blond man who was rattling away away about our payment system and how it worked, I couldn't help but have a new-found admiration for the man. He had no friends, no family, only himself and his job. He sacrificed so much happiness (though I knew he's never admit it) just to keep the misunderstanding people safe from things they could never know about. No one wanted to be alone. Not even an old, cranky man like Kirkland. I guess that was what made him a hero.

"Alfred, are you even listening?" I ran into the man's back because of his abrupt stop.

Rubbing my nose I mumbled, "Course I am."

Kirkland furrowed his large brows and said, "Is something wrong? You aren't being obnoxious as usual."

Yawning, I replied, "I'm just tired." It was true; I didn't know how much longer I could stand.

"Good thing you're pleasant when you're tired. You'll be having many more sleepless nights."

After a long trek back to Kirkland's mini mansion, I was so exhausted that my legs were shaking, and I was having a hard time focusing my eyes.

"How tedious," Kirkland scowled, as he took off his big black cloak and hung it up on a coat rack near the door. "I _was _going to question you about your fight with Natalia, but you seem so tired, that it wouldn't do any good. Alright then, take your shoes off, and follow me to your room. I won't carry you if you pass out in the way up the stairs."

I sluggishly followed the Brit up to where my room was (I was too tired to pay attention to where I was going). The second a small cot came into my foggy vision, I collapsed on it without a thought.

Before I shut my eyes, I caught a glimpse of the man's eyes, and ruefully thought, _the very thing that separates Mattie and me, is the only thing that binds Kirkland and I together. Green eyes..._**[3]**

* * *

In the doorway, watching the American immediately drift off into dreamland, stood Arthur Kirkland. He watch the child fall asleep with a sad smile on his face, and mournful eyes. Before shutting the door he whispered, "Sleep well, little brother. You've earned it."

But of course, the only person to hear his words was lost in a dream about a flying unicorn.

**So the cat's out of the bag!**

**[1] Scotland and female Wales. I want to keep family members cannon, if I can.**

**[2] THIS HAS A DEEPER MEANING THAN JUST HAVING A DIFFERENT EYES COLOR, JUST SO YOU PICK UP ON THAT. IT IS FORESHADOWING. **

**[3] Alfred is referring to their sight, more than actual eye color.**

**BTW, the talking door is a spell; this is not steampunk. It will be explained why the door let him in later, along with Alfred's strength. **

**You know the drill! PLEASE favorite, follow, and REVIEW! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! Advice, thoughts, idea's, criticism, even ****_flames _****are welcome!**

**Thank you for spending your precious time reading this.**

**You're all beautiful. Now get out of here and REVIEW. But do come back later~**


	6. Chapter 6

**Longest chapter yet! Yay! FYI, I don't know when the next time I'll be able to update will be because I'm going away for a week with no access to the internet. I don't know If I'll survive.**

**Big thanks to everyone who followed and favored! Special thanks to: **

**Shadow's Party Girl 96: Thanks! I was originally waiting to hold off from dropping that bomb for a few chapters, but it had been just too tempting!**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: All will be explained about that! But, not for a few chapters. **

**NightTheCat: That's exactly what I was thinking of when I wrote that part! Alfred's strength is explained in this chapter, and how Alfred was able to enter the room is not nearly as ominous as I made it sound, but won't be explained til later.**

**founder keeper (guest): Thanks! I always try to keep my writing interesting; I'm not much of a fan of fillers, so i try to keep the action going. **

**Thank you guys so much for reviewing! I'm so happy I got more reviews than usually do for the last chapter!**

**This chapter is mainly tying up all loose ends in Alfred's and Matthew's relationship. That won't be the case next chapter.**

**FYI, I don't create OC's unless I'm not really going to use them all that much, or there is absolutely no country that can fit that part. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia or TSA.**

Throughout the next few weeks, Kirkland and I grew to somewhat tolerate each other. I would complain, and he'd reprimand me. That basically summed up my entire existence at that point. Arthur began training me in combat, which was pretty cool, I have to admit, but grueling. Between all the missions, training, and studying up on the creatures of the other realm, I was down-right _tired_ every time Kirkland _finally _let me go to sleep.

I hadn't seen Mattie in four weeks, and I was still confused as to what I really felt about his newly-discovered sexuality. I mean, I'll love Matthew no matter what, don't get me wrong, but I had to admit to myself it just wasn't _normal._

_You're not exactly normal either, _a voice in the back of my head would respond. _You're probably more abnormal than you're brother; green eyes are technically a mutation. Matthew and Gilbert are more normal than you'll ever be._

It was true; I knew this as a fact. There were more people out there who preferred to keep the company of men than there were spooks and people with the sight. Kirkland told me the sight was extremely rare, and only people with green eyes had it, with a few gold-eyed exceptions.

_So what, a boy can like a boy, _I told myself. _Everyone's human, so why does it matter if the person who becomes your special friend is a girl or a boy? _

I convinced myself of this, repeating it over and over in my head like a mantra. No one should be condemned just because they like someone with the same gender, right?

I'll admit, while I didn't have any real thoughts or opinions about homosexuals, it was a little difficult to fully and completely solidify that it was not wrong to be a homosexual, for no other reason that I had been told it was wrong my whole life.

Another week passed by, and I still hadn't asked to visit my brother Matthew. By that point, even Kirkland was getting suspicious.

"Why aren't you demanding to see your brother, uh, Matthew? By the way you were demanding to see him only a day after you became my apprentice, I thought that would be a more problematic issue."

Shrugging, I replied, "We kind of had a fight the last time I saw him, and now it would just feel awkward to see him again after that."

Kirkland rolled his eyes and replied, "Teenagers. You are all so dramatic about the simplest issues."

On a brighter note, I was learning how to manage my strength. At least, that's what Kirkland told me. I guess he was right; I was no longer accidentally knocking down trees. (It wasn't my fault! Trees' have weak roots).

After the whole nymph incident, Kirkland sat me down to talk and told me that what I had done was close to impossible for a human to do. Nymphs have incredibly thick skulls; to be able to knock one out cold with a single kick to the head, while they were stronger and I much weaker because we were underwater combined with the fact that I was running out of oxygen, was unbelievable.

Apparently, the kind of strength I had just wasn't human. Kirkland reasoned it was most likely a mutation I suffered while in the womb that went along with the sight; sometimes, someone who had the sight would also have another heightened ability. For example, maybe fast reflexes, fish gills (Kirkland told me we all had them at one point, so these people just retained them), the ability to preform some of the magic creatures from the other realm can do (like Kirkland himself; this wasn't all that uncommon), super strength (like me), etc. There was a big, long list of all the human mutations that had occurred to people with the sight, but I was only the second one in recorded history to have superior strength. The first was a guy named Ivan Braginski.

Great, just another thing that make me even more abnormal than I already was.

After that, Kirkland took it upon himself to put me through combat training tailored to my abilities.

If I was being honest, I never noticed I was stronger then anyone else. Sure, I was able to lift large pieces of furniture at a young age, easily carry two full-grown pigs at the same time to a different pen, and other simple stuff like that, but I never really noticed that Matthew or Holden couldn't do those things.

The first week, Kirkland tried to test just _how _strong I was.

"Now pick up the sac that ways 200 lbs. Okay, you can lift that, how about the 250 sac? By the queen, you still have no problem with that. Let's just skip to the 400 lbs? Is that one heavy? No? Not in the slightest?!"

Yeah...that went on for hours. We found that my limit was just short of 2,000 lb. For the first time, I knew what it was like to feel the strain of muscles, the ache in my body from pushing it beyond its limits. It was extremely tiring to say the least, but it also felt strangely exhilarating. I would definitely try it again sometime.

From the knowledge of knowing how much I could lift, Kirkland devised a training system to help me control my strength, and know exactly how much force I was exerting at all times while also teaching me different types of combat.

Sometime in the midst of all this training, I asked Kirkland that if I was so strong compared to the average human, then why hasn't ever been a obvious problem before?

He responded, "It probably _was_ when you were a toddler when your mutation started developing. Unconsciously, you taught yourself to use very little force to do things like open doors, and lifting bales of hay for the horses your family owns. Because of that, it didn't seem like a problem in your daily life. It's a good thing you aren't temperamental. If you were, think of all the disasters you could've created just because you got upset. This is why it could become such a huge problem; the more you hold back and repress, the more strained it becomes, which results in the likely-hood of you doing something you'd regret. Understand?"

I nodded that I understood, even though I kind of didn't. I always thought that things you didn't use ended up dying and withering away, like Holden's brain, and Mr. Kirkland's youth.

Once a week, Kirkland took me on another mission. This helped distract me from my problems' with Matthew. Sweet baby Jesus, I managed to bring him up again! The one topic I had been trying to avoid by rattling on about my stupid strength and combat training. Fine, I guess I'll tell you guys what happened, since the topic is straying to my brother so much...

I had managed to avoid seeing Matthew for a whole month (five weeks) before Kirkland told me at breakfast on a Wednesday morning, "Alright, you have successfully went through one full month as being an apprentice to a spook. As much as I hate to say this, congratulations."

Taking a sip of water I asked, "What made it so successful for you to tell me about it?"

"You didn't die."

I nearly spit out my water. "What the butter ball? Do most spook's apprentices die in less than a month?!"

Shrugging Kirkland said, "I wouldn't say _most. _Just a good portion. In fact, I almost died my third week in I still have the scar to prove it."

My eyes widened. This was the first time Kirkland had ever admitted to having any kind of fault. "W-what happened?"

"We were catching a wild imp. It had eaten a child that had gotten lost, but had mainly been feasting off a local farmer's cattle. Being something of the other realm, we were asked to rid of it. While we were out following it's tracks, I got separated from the current spook. The imp took the appearance of a small child. Thinking it had just wondered away from home, I tried to ask it who it was and if it had any idea of where it lived. It was only too late I saw it grin with a mouth full of sharp, pointed teeth, that I had realized what I had so stupidly failed to see; it's aura was black. It's mouth clamped onto my wrist, and started draining the blood from my body. The current spook came just in time to capture the imp, and save my life. I was stuck with simple fairy-catching tasks for a whole two months as punishment."

I stared at the man in shock; I had thought he'd been the perfect little apprentice who couldn't do a darn thing wrong. Cracking a smile I said, "You screwed up worse than I did!"

Raising an unusually large eyebrow at me, the Brit smirked. "I wouldn't look so smug if I were you. Remember the incident two weeks ago?"

I frowned at him, and blushed heavily. "Th-that doesn't count...I wasn't almost killed."

The man had the audacity to _laugh _at me. "I never was foolish enough to fall asleep in the garden where the fairies live."

"I wouldn't have fallen asleep if you hadn't made me go _two _nights without getting any shut eyes!"

"Calm yourself, you twit. We've strayed from the original topic of conversation. Anyways, I congratulated you because you have completely your first, well, I guess you could call it a level, as my apprentice. In reward, I will give you a break, and allow you to go home for the course of one week. When you return, you will be faced with more difficult and dangerous missions. In advance, all of your training will be increased and intensified. You are out of what I like to call the introductory stage. Now it's time to really get to work."

"YES!" I proclaimed, jumping out of my chair, and raising my fists in the air triumphantly. "I finally get to get out of this creepy place for a whole week!"

The man scowled at me, with a weird expression flashing across his eyes. If he was anyone else beside the grumpy old man he was, I would've thought he looked hurt at my words. "It's _only _for a week. No more, maybe less."

I looked at the blonde as if he was an idiot. "_Why _would I go for anything less then a week? I'm not some sort of self-hurt-inflicting freak, unlike _you."_

Instead of rolling his eyes at me like I thought he would, he pressed his lips together tightly. Other than that his face was totally poker-faced. _That's weird, usually he always looks like he wants to hit me over the head with an iron shovel..._

He broke me out of my thoughts by clearing his throat, and standing up swiftly. "I would tell you to collect your things, but you'd just take too long like the twat you are while you already have plenty of cloths at your own house to wear. So, I guess you better get going."

"Hey! I'm not a t—" I forgot about my protest to being a woman's organ, when I realized what he had insinuated. "Wait, you aren't going with me?"

Snorting, he replied, "I see no reason to. You know the way to your own house, and I'm not your personal bloody babysitter. Can I trust you not to fall asleep near fairies and end up tied to a poor girl's window naked again?" **[1]**

Blushing, I retorted, "That wasn't my fault! You shouldn't make me pull all-nighters like that! I can't handle them!"

"Then stop being a sodding ninny, and learn to become a spook's apprentice!" Kirkland took a deep breath and rubbed his temples. "At the end of the week, I'll come to collect you unless you come to me before that."

I rolled my eyes at the very notion of _willingly _coming back to him before a whole week was up. "Okay, can I go now?" I was excited, to say the least. I missed my Ma, _her cooking, _teasing Holden, _MA'S COOKING, _my Pa, _**MA'S COOKING, **_the fresh morning air that can be only found on the farm, and, most of all, _**MA'S COOKING.**_ I have learned something that shouldn't be possible; how to survive with British cooking. Yeah, I know my Ma was British too, but she never cooked any traditional British food. I guess she escaped the horror of being a terrible cook.

"_Please _do. I miss the days before having an apprentice."

I waved goodbye to the old man and a few of the friendly fairies before merrily skipping my way home.

I still didn't like all the walking I had to do in my apprenticeship, but I had grown used to it. I wasn't nearly as bothersome as it used to be, however, I still remembered to complain as much as I did my first day with Kirkland, if for no other reason than to tick him off.

It wasn't until I was almost home that I remembered the dilemma I had been facing for the past month; there was a possibility Matthew might be home.

Shaking my head, I convinced myself that Matthew being home was _highly _unlikely. When he first became Mr. Wang's apprentice, he came home _maybe _once every three weeks. And even if he was at home, he wouldn't stay the whole time I was there, and I'd only have to face the awkwardness once. I just had to make sure I was never alone with him, then I would be fine.

When my house came into sight, I couldn't help myself; I started running towards the door. I took in the familiar scent of manure, milk, and Ma's fresh cooking. My mouth watered. Not only had I been suffering bad cooking, but Kirkland wouldn't even let me eat as much as I wanted. He'd give me a baby-sized portion, and expected me to be satisfied with that. It was unbearable.

I enthusiastically sprinted up the three steps to the porch, and vigorously knocked on the door. The person that whipped open the door was, unfortunately, the person I least wanted to see at the moment.

There stood Matthew, wide-eyed, looking at me with a cautious expression on his face. "Um, hi Alfred!" he said, with a strained smile. "I didn't know you'd be coming home so soon. I though that Ma said you had to remain Ol' Man England's apprentice for at least two months, not one."

I shook myself out of my shocked stupor, and tried laughing lightheartedly. It came out as a strained giggle/choking sound. I hastily cleared my throat (something I seemed to have picked up from Kirkland) trying to somewhat rid the atmosphere of the awkward tension. "Kirkland gave me this week of to visit Ma and...the rest of you."

"O-oh," relied Matthew, with a mildly surprised expression. "That's quite a coincidence. Mr. Wang gave me this week off too."

That sent up a red flag in my brain. _What?! No, that can't be! Mr. Wang _never _gave Mattie whole weeks off! It's simply unacceptable! What, when have I started saying that? I've been reading too much of those Adventure Time comics. _"Really? That's, er, great!"

I flashed him a smile, and hastily pushed past him, and ran to the kitchen faster than a fan girl runs towards gay ships. _I won't let my awkwardness with Matthew ruin my time here, _I decided. _Besides, we have to make up sometime, don't we?_

I inhaled the wafting scent of chocolate chip cookies, and nearly died, right there are then, out of happiness. My Ma was standing at the over, pulling our a pan of fresh baked goods. She smiled warmly at me. I immediately darted to the cookies, but was smacked with a big, wooden spoon when I tried to grab one.

"No yet," she scowled, "you have to wait for them to cool." She took off her oven mitts, but continued to look disproving. "I see Kirkland still didn't teach you any manners. I haven't seen you in a month, and you don't even say 'hello' or give your poor old Ma a hug?"

I blushed bashfully, and enveloped my Ma in a big hug.

The whole day, I was required to do all the chores I had before I left; in a way it was annoying, but it also felt like nothing had changed at all, which was a good feeling.

It turns out that Pa had handed the farm completely over to Holden in the month I had been gone, which was...different, so say the least. I mean, Holden didn't make any big changes or anything, but it was like the whole farm had a different feeling. It was as if the whole land just changed because of the different ownership.

Other than that, there was only one thing that was a drastic change; Holden was getting married. And it wasn't to the family cow, Maribel. I knew he had a girlfriend, but I never considered her something tangible because Holden never introduced us.

They told me they were waiting until they saw me in person break the news, but it still made me feel estranged from them, in a way. It made me realize that I was growing, becoming my own person with my own agenda. In a way it made me very sad to have the knowledge that I was no longer a part of the farm, but it also excited and thrilled me.

There as nothing awkward about our family dinner, despite Holden's fiance being there and the unspoken tension between Mattie and me. Her name was Evelyn Brown. She was nice enough with honey-blonde hair, chocolate eyes, and a sweet face. There wasn't anything too special or spectacular about her, though. I'll admit, that was a little disappointing, but expected.

Ma asked her how she and Holden met, saying that Holden hasn't said anything because he was just _so embarrassed_ about his love life, and whatnot.

Watching them prattle on and on with my commentary here and there on certain things, (mainly me teasing Holden to get a few laughs out of Evelyn) I both envied and pitied Holden. He had his whole life made for him since he was born; grow up, inherit the farm, marry a country bumpkin or Maribel if he never found a lass, reproduce offspring, then peacefully pass away in his sleep, only feeling that his boring life had any meaning because he procreated with a female. It's nice to know exactly how your life's going to be, but it's must get terribly boring.

With my life as Kirkland's apprentice, my future was anything but set in stone. I would live out my life by doing dangerous missions for the good of others as an unappreciated hero, never knowing which day might be my last. Since I had so much more sex appeal then Kirkland ever had, I would get countless admirers. One of them would be Tori...I would, reasonably, chose Tori, for she will be the fairest of them all—

"—Alfred?"

My head bolted upright as I heard the honey-blonde say my name. She was smiling sweetly at me, obviously expecting some sort of answer. "I'm sorry, what?"

Holden snorted at me. "Don't mind him, his only goal in life is to always have a full stomach. Unfortunately for him, that goal will never be reached."

Instead of laughing, Evelyn scowled, and swatted him lightly on the arm. "Now Holden, that's no way to speak to your brother! Apologize to him!"

"But I—"

"_Now."_

Much to his chagrin, Holden mumbled, "I'm sorry for teasing you about your appetite, Al."

I smiled at Evelyn, deciding I liked her a lot more that I initially had. _Not so plain after all, _I thought.

"As I was _saying," _continued Evelyn, with a glare pointed at her fiance, "Alfred, what is your apprenticeship?"

I bit my lip; this was the topic of conversation I had been trying to avoid the whole night. Talking about spooks was a controversial topic, not one you'd want to bring up if trying to maintain a lighthearted and friendly atmosphere. I had no idea how she'd react to the information I was about to relay, but I thought telling the truth would be better than lying. "Um, I'm apprenticed to Arthur Kirkland."

Her eyes brows shot up in surprise as her mouth formed a little "o". She gaped like a fish for a few seconds before she managed to say, "Oh, um, and, how is that? I mean, I know all the rumors, but I've never heard about the spook's business first-hand."

I opened my mouth to reply, but found that I had no words. Consarn it all, I had forgotten the cover Kirkland told me to tell people about our job. In slight desperation, I gave a nervous giggle and said, "Ma'am, I have been apprenticed to Ol' Man England for a month, and even _I'm _confused about what exactly we do."

Everyone around the table laughed except Matthew. He stared at me with slightly narrowed eyes, making me fidget in my seat. Luckily no one noticed; no one ever really did notice Matthew, despite my constant reassurance to him that he was very much noticeable. Most of the time Matthew didn't mind in the slightest, but sometimes it would frustrate him.

In any terms, Matthew was suspicious of me, but at the same time he was still treading lightly because I knew his big secret. To say the least, it unnerved me.

The rest of dinner passed with pleasantries, never once going back on the topic of my apprenticeship. In any case, I was glad that dinner was over, and was ready to turn in early; for the last month, I was never allowed more than four hours of sleep at a time. I would savor the next seven days where I could sleep to my heats content.

Just as I was preparing for bed, my door swung open with Matthew in the doorway.

"Dude!" I protested, "Not cool! What if I was naked or something?"

Matthew rolled his eyes. "Alfred, I've seen you naked more times than I would have liked. I don't think either of us would have really cared."

I pouted at the older blonde, knowing what he said was true. For once I stayed quite, not wanting to talk to Mattie about what I knew he wanted to talk about. Matthew always said it was important to confront things, whereas I never saw why I would have to.

"We need to talk," he began, confirming my suspicions.

I groaned loudly, flopped onto my back on the bed. "What's there so say?" I complained. "I thought we already talked about how you like kissing boys."

Matthew turned beet red, slammed the door behind him and clamped a hand across my mouth. "Not so loud," he hissed, "what if someone heard you?!"

I gave the other boy a level look, before poking my tongue out of my mouth to force his hand away. It worked. "Like I said, we already talked. Now if you'd excuse me, I'd like to have my first good sleep in a month."

Instead of leaving, Matthew shot me a concerned look. "Have you been having trouble sleeping?"

_Leave it to Mattie to be concerned about me, even when he's upset with me. _"More like Kirkland never lets me catch up on any z's."

Giving me the first honest smiled he's given me in a while, my brother said, "Good thing you only have to suffer through another month before you never have to see that man's eyebrows again, eh?"

"Actually," I said, slightly nervous about admitting what I was about to say, "I have no intentions of leaving my apprenticeship anymore. It's actually not so bad at all, if you don't include the risk factors, and—"

"What?!" Matthew exclaimed. "Not leaving? Risk factors!? What next, are you actually going to tell me that Ol' Man England's really an unappreciated hero, and plays with fairies in his free time?"

I couldn't help but laugh at how spot on Mattie's sarcasm was. "I know what I'm saying is really different from what you expected, but it's true; despite how anal Kirkland is about absolutely _everything, _and how much the job takes out of me, I can't really imagine my life going into any other direction. I'm sorry Matthew...I'm going to remain the spook's apprentice, and hopefully take up the mantle one day."

The look Mattie gave me literally broke my heart. He was looking at me as if I was a complete stranger, despite being the closest person to me since I could remember.

After a few moments of silence Matthew said, "You lied."

"Huh?"

"When you told Holden's fiance that you still didn't know what a spook does, you lied. You didn't have to say what you just told me, you already gave it away when you answered Evelyn. You said you didn't know what 'we' did, not you didn't know what 'he' did."

I glared at the older boy. "Well gee, I'm _sorry _that not everyone can be a literary genius like you! Geez, everyone's on my case..."

"What exactly _do _you do?"

I wanted to tell him; I honestly did, and I would have, if it wasn't for the fact that Matthew wouldn't believe me. "I'm sorry Mattie, but I can't tell you."

His eyes grew wide, and I caught a glimpse of his chin quivering before he quickly turned away from me. We always told each other everything, no matter what. So, why had that all changed in just a simple month? Why did it _have _to change?

We sat in an unpleasant silence, me feeling guilty, and Matthew feeling said. "I'm going to know anyway, so there isn't anything you can really do about it," he whispered. I widened my eyes. Matthew had never threatened me before.

He turned back to look me straight in the eyes, his own red with unshed tears. _He was always a bit of a cry baby,_ I thought fondly. "Mr. Wang and Ol' Man England are friends, did you know that?" I shook my head, surprised. "Mr. Wang told me that they have to work together in their line of work at times. He also told me that it's a good thing I'm your brother, because we'll work together too. That's why he gave me this week off, because he knew that we were sort of avoiding each other, and Mr. Wang knew Ol' Man England was giving you this week off."

I started at the ceiling as if I was trying to burn a whole in it. Matthew crossed over to the bed, and laid down next to me. He looked at the side of my face until I couldn't stand it anymore and snapped, "What?!"

"It would be better if you told me now opposed to Mr. Wang telling me later. At least, that's what I'd prefer."

In that moment, I wished with all my heard Mattie also had green eyes. That he could see the things I could see, that we could make fun of the nymphs together, that we could both suffer the humiliation the fairies gave me, but most of all...I wished that I fit in. I wish that I didn't have the sight. I've always wanted to be the hero, but I've also always imagined Mattie right beside me the whole way, along with all the rest of my friends and family. Never had I imagined it being just myself with Kirkland, of all people.

"I'd rather you'd hear it from Mr. Wang," I responded.

Matthew took a shaky breath before changing the subject; he knew that he wouldn't get anything more out of me that night. "I want you to meet Gilbert tomorrow."

I jerked in an upright position, startling Mattie, and causing him to fall out of bed. "WHAT?!" I shrieked. "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but I already met him! Why do I have to see the douche-face again?!"

"He's not a douche-face!" Mattie defended, blushing scarlet and picking himself off the floor. "Actually, in a weird way, he reminds me of you, believe it or not."

"I am nothing like that demon-albino! I would _never _steal that guy's brother's innocence!"

Mattie blushed even harder. "He did _not _steal my innocence! And not all albino's are evil, Al, haven't you read The Heat ?" **[2]**

I snorted. "I don't have time to _read,_ I'm a hero! I'm too busy saving poor suckers like you from being molested by crazy nymphs, and making sure the house brownies don't turn into boggarts and poison someone!" Word of advice; _don't _piss off a brownie and make them turn into a boggart; they're nice little guys, until one day you leave them spoiled milk instead of fresh, and they make your life a living hell. Moving won't help; they'll follow you.

Mattie rolled his eyes once more. "Anyways, it's about two female knights. They're trying to stop solve a case about black magic and what not, I don't really remember. But there was an albino knight in the story that one of them thought was really helping the criminals; turns out he was one of the good guys all along."

"Yeah, whatever. I still don't want to see him."

"_Please _Al?"

"No."

"_PLEASE?"_

"No."

"_**PLEEEEEEEEEASE?"**_

"I said no, and I'm sticking with my answer. It'll just be weird and awkward."

"Alfred, why not?" Matthew looked genuinely hurt and confused. "I thought you accepted us...well, at least accepted _me. _But you haven't even came to see me once in five weeks, despite you being the more clingy one out of us. I don't...I don't get it. What made you change your mind?"

"You think I'm weird, don't you?" I blurted.

Violet eyes widened in shock. "What?"

I always knew Matthew thought I was strange, but for the first time, I was voicing it. "You think it, Holden thinks it, Pa thinks it, heck, my whole _school house _thought it! Even...even Tori. I _know _Holden's fiance Evelyn thought it too. The only people who don't think it are Ma and Kirkland, because they're '_off' _just like I am."

Matthew's eyes went from shock, to dreadful understanding. "Oh, you...you heard."

"Yeah, I _heard," _I repeated bitterly.

I wanted to cry; he didn't even bother denying it.

"While it's true that I do think you're different," started Matthew, "I don't think it's a bad thing."

"Liar," I bit, watching Matthew flinch.

"I'm not lying," he protested. "Some people think you're stupid, but you're not. You're one of the smartest people I know, even if it's not exactly in the conventional way. And...you're _so _incredibly strong, it's awe-inspiring. I don't know why, but I know you broke that lock, which you _still _have to explain to me. Regardless of your motives, that's amazing. When people see that you're different, it's because even ordinary boring people can sense how incredible you are, even if they don't know what they're sensing. Maybe I don't understand you completely...but I don't need to in order to know that I love and care about you as your brother. I mean, you don't fully understand that I like a boy, and like kissing boys, right?" **[3]**

I nodded in agreement. It was true, I didn't fully understand it.

"It's the same thing. You don't understand it, but instead of being afraid and axing me out of your life, you accepted it because I'm your brother, and you love me, right?"

Again, all I could do was nod dumbly.

"And that's all I need." Mattie sat next to me on the bed. "Besides," he continued, "being normal is so overrated, don't you think?"

"I guess so," I whispered, but I didn't really agree with that. Being normal equaled acceptance, and being accepted meant being happy. That was just how it was.

"So...you'll meet Gilbert tomorrow?"

Reluctantly I agreed, and bid Matthew good night to go to bed.

For the first time in a month, I heard the familiar moaning in the distance, and knocking on my window.

* * *

Telling Ma we had someone to meet in town didn't get Mattie or me out of our morning chores. Mattie shrugged it off, and said Gilbert wasn't and early riser anyways, so it didn't matter that much.

We left the house at noon, and proceeded to make our way to town. Most people lived in town, usually having a family owned shop of business, while other family's had farms like we did, and lived more on the outskirts of town. Then there were some weird people who randomly lived out in the woods for no apparent reason, and got kidnapped by nymphs. (cough) Roderick (cough).

On our way there, Mattie explained how he met Gilbert, and how he discovered he was gay. Gilbert had been someone he threw out of Mr. Wang's book store from time to time because he would make too much noise. That had started up a year ago, about the time Matthew first started his apprenticeship with Mr. Wang.

For some weird reason, Gilbert took a liking to Matthew, and decided to bother him until he decided to hang out somewhere. At first this made me _sure _my suspicions about the albino boy were right—

-Until Matthew told me that _he _was the one to find out he was gay _first _and _he _was the one who came on to _Gilbert. _

Apparently, at first, all Gilbert had been interested in was making another friend. He was apprenticed to a blacksmith who didn't like Gilbert see other people his age very often, making the boy lonely. Gilbert always had the excuse of being at the library, which wasn't a lie, whenever he saw Matthew.

Matthew first started realizing his feelings a few months after he met Gilbert, but dismissed them to be nothing more than feelings for a friend. But time went on, and Matthew realized they were anything but.

He realized he wasn't being fair to Gilbert if he kept it a secret, and told him. Gilbert initially freaked out, and Matthew didn't see him for two weeks before Gilbert came back and admitted his own feelings. Gilbert admitted he never acted on them because he thought they were wrong; boy's weren't supposed to like other boy's, right? It just wasn't natural.

"In the end we made it sort of work, which is all that really counts," finished Matthew. "Of course, other people will never accept relationships like ours, and it sucks having to be _so _secretive, but...I'm glad you know."

His voice was nervous and excited in his own, unique, quiet way. It was so contagious that I couldn't help but feel slight excitement as well.

When they reached downtown, Matthew broke out in a run. I followed the best I could, but Matthew was much better at people-dodging, and slightly faster then I was. I called for him to slow down, but he simply laughed and ran faster.

By the time I saw the girl running from another direction, it was too late. I tried to stop, but my efforts were in vain; we collided head-first.

I sent us both sprawling on our butts. I rubbed my cranium painfully, as I stood to help the other girl up.

"Sorry," I said, "you okay?"

The girl ignored the hand I offered her, and stood up on her own. "Hai," she said softly, but not at all timidly. She dusted off her weird dress (she was a foreigner, no doubt) then proceeded to bow to me. "My apologies, I was not looking where I was going."

My face heated up. I shot her an apologetic smile, and tried to wave away her kind words. "No no, it was my fault. Er, sorry."

The girl looked to be around my age, with dark, ebony hair that fell to her shoulders with bangs, very white, porcelain looking skin, weirdly shaped eyes that were almost as black as her hair, and red ruby lips that looked as if they were painted on her white skin. The style of her features kind of reminded me of the kind of look Mr. Wang had, but seemed different enough that there was no relation. I figured she must me from Asia like Mr. Wang.

The strange girl bowed once more before running off in the original direction she was headed. What puzzled me the most was no one seemed to notice her, or even look at her despite her strange appearance.

I shrugged it off, and continued to try to find where exactly Matthew had ran off to. _She was kind of pretty, in a weird way..._

A few minutes later I found Matthew, or rather, _he _found _me. _"Alfred, where'd you go? You just disappeared! Usually that's my thing."

"Er, sorry Mattie," I replied, scratching the back on my head, "I ran into someone. Literally."

Matthew shook his head at me. "You're so clumsy sometimes."

"Not as much as you are!"

"Touche."

The day went surprisingly well. While Gilbert seemed like a complete jackass at first, I noticed be was actually a pretty decent guy. I could imagine Mattie liking him as a friend, but I still had no idea why he would like him romantically. That part baffled me.

Gilbert brought his own sibling along as well; she was a stern, but pretty, looking girl with a sleek blonde pony tail, and piercing blue eyes. When revealed that she knew about her brother's relationship with Matthew, I was a little surprised, to say the least. She seemed like the completely goody-two-shoes that followed and upheld every rule; in other words, the serious looking version of a poster child. Despite all that, she supported her brother's relationship wholeheartedly.

A little later, Louise, Gilbert's sister, left to meet up with her friend, Feliciano. Of course, Gilbert proclaimed that he wouldn't let "his innocent baby sister" venture off downtown by herself without someone with her. She rolled her eyes at him, but let us follow all the same.

Feliciano was waiting with his brother, Lovino. They looked like someone I met before, just vaguely, but I couldn't put my finger on what exactly.

Louise finally talked Gilbert into leaving her alone, when I met Lovino's eyes. They were a weird mixture of gold and green. In that moment, I knew. He had the sight. I could tell he knew that I had the sight too from my strange shade of green on my own eyes, but neither of us said anything, or acknowledged the common skill we had.

Eventually, the time came where Gilbert and Matthew had to say goodbye. Mattie seemed a little disappointed, but was overall happy that I didn't try to kill his boyfriend.

I enjoyed my day out; it had been a while since I saw other humans that weren't part of the family, the mayor, or Kirkland. It was nice, even if it was someone like Gilbert, Louise, and two weirdly familiar Italians.

All the sudden, it hit me. How could I have forgotten?

Feliciano and Lovino were Bianca's children!

I felt adrenaline pump through my veins as I realized that I could save a soul; maybe, if I could talk Kirkland into it, I could manage to get Lovino and Feliciano to see their mother as a ghost. Since her children were always the one's she was griping about, would seeing them allow her to pass on?

I had thought this many times before, but the idea had always seemed as intangible as Timbuktu. Now that I knew the boys were within my reach, it made the idea completely possible.

For the first time in a month, I had trouble falling asleep because of my new-found excitement.

It would have been the perfect day, had I not woken up to screaming in the middle of the night.

**[1] The incident Kirkland mentioned earlier, in case you didn't catch that.**

**[2] I do not own the movie, The Heat. I simply made it a book Mattie read with knights instead of cops, and black magic instead of drugs because I wanted to reference the albino. **

**[3] Best brother speech ever, am I right? The "I don't have to understand you to care about you" is actually something a family member said to me a while ago, but it was said in a more humorous fashion opposed to how Matthew tells this to Alfred. **

**Why did I make Germany a chick? Because I love fem. Germany, and there aren't enough ficts with her out there. Oh, I gave Lovino the sight because I imagine him apprenticed to a green-eyed Spaniard. As Kirkland would say, they're relationship is "highly unprofessional" (wink wink). Spook Antonio and Apprentice Lovino will play a larger role later.**

**All right, you guys know what to do! Please follow, favorite, and REVIEW! Advice, thoughts, criticism, your ideas on what you want to see happen (I'm willing to take that stuff into consideration if I like it), really, anything! PLEASE REVIEW!**

**BTW, yes, that was Japan, and I think I've decided that I'm going to add hints of Ameripan throughout the story. But there's still ONE thing I havn't decided yet:**

**IMPORTANT: SHOULD I INCLUDE FrUk? I really want to have Kirkland have some sort of past lover or something, but even if there is, it wouldn't be a huge part of the story or anything. And if there is FrUK, should France be a chick? I've always wanted to try my hand at female France, but I don't know if I could do it...**

**PLEASE REVIEW AND TELL ME IF THERE SHOULD BE HINTS OF FrUK OR IF THAT WOULD JUST BE TERRIBLE!**

**Thank you for your time and consideration. **


	7. Chapter 7

**I'm trying to make this short, because I really just want to post this.**

**Thanks to everyone who followed and favored! SPECIAL THANKS TO:**

**guest (guest): No ameripan in this chapter, sorry! And I think I have decided to add France as a chick. **

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: Fem. Japan and Wang don't have any relation, other than the fact that they both come from Asia. Unless I change my mind later, which isn't unlikely. (I do that a lot). I don't know if they're going to meet in the future, unless the coincidentally do.**

**Guest (the guest who capitalized their guest): I was super close to adding having France as a guy. So close! But then I thought of how I pictured that happening, and decided that it would be better if I had him a chick. (You'll see soon enough).**

**NyleveLlom: No love triangle there because Antonio is six years younger than Arthur. Also, he has his sights set on a certain Italian. (Wink wink). The relationship with Arthur and France also wont be super duper important; it'll be there, but it won't be the main story line.**

**TheShadowEclipse: Oh my gosh. You don't know how unbelievably nice that review was. Thank you so much! That really made my day! I hope that you continue liking my story and that the plot doesn't stray too much! If it does, please tell me and lend advice you deem necessary: I would gladly welcome it. And that was exactly what I was going for with Alfred; I'm glad it came across that way. Tell me how well I portrayed him in this chapter; it was a little harder to write him this time. You're in for a pleasant surprise; this is the first (and last for a while) Arthur is actually decent to little Alfred. I'm also glad you approve of how I portrayed Matthew and Gilbert. I don't like to do unrealistic relationships...I was also careful never to say "love". That might come later, but Matthew is young, the relationship's fairly new, and they are still discovering things about each other. So I'm glad it worked! One last thing, thanks for the advice about Arthur and France; it actually helped me decide how exactly to portray them. Hope to hear from you soon!**

**NightTheCat: Welcome back! I hope you like this chapter!**

**Dakota William-Jones: That actually pretty darn close to what I had in mind for France. You made me actually consider it, but then I figured it wouldn't work for the plot I had in mind. **

**THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I GOT THE MOST REVIEWS I HAVE EVER GOTTEN FOR A SINGLE CHAPTER BEFORE! YOU ALL ROCK!**

**I hope I didn't miss anyone...**

**Majority rules; there ****_will _****be FrUk! Well, it was kind of unanimous...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia of TSA. **

Where did we leave off? Oh yes; someone was screaming.

I jolted awake and out of my bed, falling face-first on the floor. I rubbed my aching nose, and hassled to get my boots on. It was only then I remembered where I was;

I wasn't at Kirkland's where I was constantly woken up by screams that were sometimes my own. Okay, usually my own. I was at home where the most noise I heard was the moaning of some miserable-low-caste-ghosts. (They really were pathetic; couldn't even utter a single word).

My body filled with adrenaline, no longer tired. The scream had been high and girly, eliminating Ma and Pa. (Ma didn't scream, and Pa only shouted). That left either Holden (his boys never dropped), Evelyn, or Mattie (he has a girly nickname for a reason).

My legs moved from under me without any conscious thought. As I sprinted to where I had heard the scream, I couldn't help but guiltily hope Holden was the one in danger instead of Matthew.

_What's wrong with you! _My conscious screamed at me, _Holden's your brother too! You should care about him just as much as you care about Matthew, despite the fact that you argue more with Holden. _I shook my head trying to rid myself of those horrid thoughts.

If the shaking of my head didn't work to put Matthew and Holden out of my mind, the next scream did. My eyes widened with slight terror when I realized it was coming from outside.

Climbing down the stairs so fast I almost fell on my face, I finally got to the front door, flung it open, and was met with three dark figures.

I recognized one as Holden; he looked close to tears, frantically moving around with a distressed expression. The other was Evelyn; she _was _in tears, frantically trying to reach out to Holden all the while being dragged away by the third dark figure. It was really more of a shadow that seemed to grow limbs.

A feeling of dread entered the pit of my stomach. _What _is _that thing? _I thought. I had never seen anything like it before, other than some _really _old, powerful spirits that become a sort of higher form of ghost; some extreme ones could actually manipulate and end up controlling a human soul, or so Kirkland told me.

Whatever it was, it wasn't one of those super-nova spirits I just mentioned. How did I know? Because those spirits are confined to one place; a building, property, whatever; they just had a container that they had to stay in. This thing had never been on my families' farm before. I would've known; spooks can sense when they're on the same land or building one of those super-old ghosts the same way you can always tell when someone crapped in the bathroom before you because of the smell. It's a strong and potent feeling.

I was conflicted; I wanted to help, I really did, but I didn't know what that creature was, and how touching it might potentially harm me.

I heard the dash of hurried footsteps behind me, and turned to see Matthew panting at my side. "Wha-what's going—" the words died on his mouth as he lifted his head to see Holden, Evelyn, and the shadow thing. His face grew several shades paler as his eyes widened to the size of silver dollars.

"What's happening to Evelyn?" he squeaked.

I gave a side glance to my brother, remembering that he did not have the sight, and therefore couldn't see what I was seeing. _That's strange, _I thought, _usually people without the sight could at least see glimpses of shadows. I'm really dealing with something out of the ordinary..._

"I don't know," I replied, for once equally as soft.

The shadow lurched backwards, dragging Evelyn with it. He face turned bright red and purple as her limbs flailed, attempting to get oxygen and escape the shadow's clutches.

My resolve steeled. I knew that I was the only one that could help Evelyn; I didn't know how to fight the beast or what it's weaknesses were, but I knew I had to try _something. _If I didn't, there was a big possibility that Evelyn would die, and I didn't want Holden moping around the house for months on end. It would become annoying.

Racking my brain, I remembered that a common weakness of creatures of the other realm was iron. _What do we have that's iron? Uh, did the pigs accidentally eat something with iron in it? It's not exactly unlikely...but I don't want to throw poor Wilbur at that beast. I don't think that's very ethical..._Regardless of ethics, my head turned toward the pig pen where I could barely make out the silhouette of some sort of object propped up against the fence that inclosed the pigs. Squinting, I realized it was a shovel. _I think that'll work better than throwing Wilbur at the shadow. _

I hightailed it towards the shovel, vaguely hearing Matthew call out my name, asking where I was going.

When I made a grab for the shovel, my movements were so quick and panicked, that I accidentally reached out with too much force, and caused part of the fence to cave in and fall to the ground. I head a sleek _smack_, followed closely by a squeal of pain. I flinched at the sound, bid Porkers and Wilbur a soft apology before sprinting back to the struggling Evelyn and the bizarre shadow.

Holden spotted me charging with the shovel, completely horrified, as if he thought I was going to smack his fiancee with it. Really, some people could be so completely stupid sometimes.

Shouting my famous battle cry, "COME AT ME, BRO!", I swung the shovel at the shadow's head-like part, and was satisfied to see the iron head of the shovel create a loud sizzle and smack against the shadow, forcing it backwards. It released Evelyn, allowing her to drop on the ground. She gasped for breath and Holden ran down to her, embracing her in his arms.

When the shovel hit the creature, I saw human skin briefly surface on the thing's face before becoming a shadow once more.

Before it could attack again, I raised my mighty shovel and smacked it again, this time on its upper torso. Just as before, a flash of human skin became visible, but for a few more seconds than the last.

"Holden!" I yelled, "Get Evelyn and Matthew inside!"

"But—"

I turned to give him a no-nonsense look, like the ones Ma always gave us when she wanted something done. _"Now!" _

It worked; Holden didn't question me as he carried Evelyn inside, forcing Matthew to go with him.

Turning around was a _bad _idea. I felt something cold slice into my face, forcing me to the ground.

"ALFRED!" screamed Matthew.

I rose my hand to feel blood seeping from the shallow wound. It wasn't too bad; the cuts were more shallow than deep, but would still make some pretty nice scars. Though, it would look as if a bear slapped me across the face.

Out of the corner of my vision, I saw the creature try to take another whack at me. I rolled to the side, shovel still in hand, just barely avoiding getting stabbed in the side.

_I have to be more careful with my barriers, _I scowled myself. _Kirkland is right; I really should practice throwing up and down the barriers instantly between the realms more often if I don't want to get myself killed. _

Problem was, barriers were tricky things, and if I was fighting a creature from the other realm, I had to keep it down at all times. I didn't have an aptitude for magic, or really much of an ability at all. Kirkland was a downright natural with magic; he could throw up and down barriers in the midst of a fight, never getting a scratch on him. Of course, he had an extra mutation that allowed him to actually preform magic to an extent most spooks could not, much like my extra mutation allowed me to have strength far beyond that of any ordinary human's. We were just two weird peas in one weird pod.

I lifted my shovel to block another attack before slapping the thing again on the shoulder. The thing fell to the ground, one again revealing human skin where the iron shovel head made contact with it. Feeling curious, I sliced the human flesh with the sharp edge of the shovel, drawing dark, purple blood.

A sharp, animalistic scream pierced the air and I new that I had found how to defeat it.

The thing began to retreat away, but I wasn't letting it go that easily. "Oh no you don't!" I shouted, and began to peruse.

I repeated the process of hitting the beast to reveal it's human flesh before striking again to create an open wound. It became a rhythm; _smack, slice, scream; smack, slice, scream; _repeating itself over and over again.

Eventually, when I had followed the beast quite a distance from the farm, the thing collapsed on the ground, shaking uncontrollably. It's whole body appeared was in flesh at that point, covered with the purple-bloody gashes from my shovel. It could've passed for human if it had any genitalia, hair, a face, and blood that was actually red. It was a pretty disturbing sight to see.

The thing withered on the ground, howling into the wind. Part of me was wondering if it was signaling others of its kind. I was racking my brain, trying to think of my next move. Should I kill it, or would that upset some creatures of the other realm and cause me to be a target? Should I just abandon it, or would it join up with others of its race and hunt for me? Was it even intelligent enough to do that? Never before had I wished Kirkland was with me more than that moment in time. I was at a lose. I didn't have nearly enough experience or knowledge to make a judgment call.

_For all you know, you shouldn't have attacked it at all, _a voice in the back of my head whispered. _What if it was part of some sort or peace treaty that you just broke? What if it's too late to do anything because you inflicted mortal wounds?_

_I was defending, _I argued, _I am in the right. If there was some sort of peace treaty or any other stupid thing like that, this _creature _violated it first when it attempted to kidnap Evelyn._

_But you took it too far, _the voice whispered back. _You didn't have to injure it so severely. Look at what you did; the poor creature is withering in pain on the ground just because your stupid ego wouldn't let it get away. _

_It wasn't my ego! _I protested. _I was afraid it would just come back later if I didn't teach it a lesson! God forbid, it might've even came back when I wasn't there! What would I have done then? _

I looked at the miserable, disturbing sight of the beast lying before me in pain, convincing myself that my actions were justified.

_Lesson learned, _the voice in the back on my head faintly muttered before fading away completely.

My thoughts were interrupted by a new shriek of the creature. Despite how disgusting the sight was, I couldn't help but feel bad for the thing.

"Stupid conscience," I muttered, kicking a nearby log. "It always makes me doubt my motives. Who am I kidding? I know nothing about this weird, shadow thing. I should've let it go when it started to run away."

"Instead you had to make it a disgusting mess of purple blood, you stupid bastard."

I jumped and turned to face Lovino Vargas, who just so happened to be standing behind me. His face was set into a deep scowl while his arms were folded against his chest as he glared intensely at me with those big, gold, green eyes.

My mouth fell open in shock. "Where—how—when—what—?"

"Why and how, yes I know all the English question words, I'm not a fucking moron like yourself."

Now that was just plain rude. "How in Beelzebub's garden did you get here?!" I shouted.

"I _ran. _Not everyone is as slow as your fucking ass is." His gaze drifted to the creature, shaking in pain beneath me and wrinkled his nose is distaste. "That's gross. _Really _fucking disgusting." The looked of distaste grew across his face before it just turned to an expression of complete horror. "Actually, I think I'm going to be sick. Stupid violet, fucking Americans...why do you always have to cause unnecessary violence?"

"What a minute, hold on; why are you even here?"

Lovino covered his mouth, actually looking like he would be sick. "That was the _dans l'ombre_the bastard and I were chasing. It got away from us again, and you found it. Whoopee."

His reasoning only served to confuse me more than I already was. "Uh...what?"

Lovino didn't answer my question, for he was busy kneeling over and throwing up.

The creature moaned terribly, trembling even more than before. While it was quite a horrendous sight, it wasn't nearly enough to make me throw up. But hey; some people had weaker stomachs than others.

After the boy finished upchucking his dinner, he wiped his mouth and glared at me over his shoulder. "You're more of a fucking idiot than I thought. You see that pathetic, bloody mess lying on the ground? It's called a _dans l'ombre. _The bastard—the spook I'm apprenticed to, was chasing this creature, because they're kind of rare and quite dangerous. When we finally caught it, it escaped again, looking for food, and found you instead. Humans are included in its diet, so you're fucking lucky all you got were three scratches on your cheek."

This news was slightly unsettling to me; I didn't know that there were other spooks that worked relatively close to each other. From what Kirkland had told me, I had though there was only one spook in a village, the village only having a spook if they had issues involving the other realm, which was rare. "Where are you and your spook located?" I asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Why the fuck should I tell you anything? For all I know, you're a crazy person who happens to have the sight. Just look at what you did to that dans l'ombre. How do I know that I'm not next?"

He did have a valid point. "Okay, maybe I didn't have to completely maim the creature...but how did I know it wouldn't come back and attack me if I just let it be?"

"It would've," Lovino interjected. "Those damn dans l'ombres never learn. Not very smart, much like yourself."

"You don't even know me!"

"I don't have to. You Americans are all the same; bloodthirsty murderers."

His eyes held fire and hatred. At that moment, I thought back to his mother, Bianca Vargas, and all the other people he must have lost during that massacre. In a way, he was justified in his hatred, but he shouldn't let it rule his life.

"Bianca Vargas is your mother, am I right?"

Before I had the chance to even blink, Lovino moved at an inhuman speed, grabbing my neck and slamming me on the ground. His mouth was curled up in a snarl full of hatred, while his eyes looked slightly panicked. "How the fuck do you know who my fucking mother is—was?!"

He was fast; _very _fast. However, fast did not mean strength, which was something Lovino painfully lacked.

I grabbed the Italian's wrist, and pried his hand off of my jugular. His eyes widened in panic, as he frantically tried to escape my grip, not realizing I would be so strong. I rolled my eyes at his frantic attempts to escape my grasp. "Dude, I'm not going to do anything to you. Geez, you're paranoid, aren't you? Anyway, I know because I met her a month ago."

All at once, he stopped struggling to stare at me in shock. "What—how—I mean, she's...she's gone, how could...I _saw..._unless..." His face drew into a horrifying realization. "No. _No. _That—that can't be true! It just can't! Why...is there any way...?"

I knew what he was asking, but before I could utter a single would a very cheerful voice chimed, "LOOOOOOOVIEEEEE! There you are! You run so fast! You really should try to remember that not everyone had super speed like you do. Oh! I see you made a new friend!"

A young man was jogging up to Lovino and me at a slow and leisurely speed. There was an easy going smile on his face, while he was adorned in a black cloak similar to Kirkland's, despite being a good few years younger than him.

"This ass hole is not my friend!" Lovino snapped in response, taking advantage of me being distracted and snatching his wrist out of m grip. "He's stupid American who caught our dans l'ombre."

The man stopped in front of Lovino and me, still smiling pleasantly. He had wind-blown brown, curly hair with bright green celery colored eyes, and tan skin. "Oh, you must be Arthur's new apprentice! Hello, it is nice to meet you!" He held out his hand for me to shake. I cautiously took it, slightly in shock at how easy going this man was acting, considering the conditions we were meeting in. He had an accent that more more pronounced than the one Lovino had; what confused me is that they were different. "My name is Antonio Fernandez Carriedo, but you can call me Antonio!"

I introduced myself to him before he took some heavy-duty chains off of his person (don't ask me how he carried those chains, or where; I have no idea) chained up the dans l'ombre and proceeded to clear a few things up for me.

He found Lovino here a few years ago on a tip, and took him back to Spain to be his apprentice. They came back here to visit Lovino's brother, Feliciano, when they realized a dans l'ombre wanted to make one of them it's dinner, and followed them. (It was one of those creatures that was attracted to people with the sight). They managed to capture and detain it, but unfortunately, it managed to escape. That's when it apparently came after Evelyn, and I found it. Lovino, having mutated reflexes allowing him to move at inhuman speeds, was able to reach me first.

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you," Antonio apologized, "but it seems like you didn't have problems detaining it anyways." He spared a glance at the chained dans l'ombre, still withering in pain because its chains had iron components in them.

We were about to part ways when Lovino grabbed my to whisper in my ear, "We'll talk about you-know-what later," before shoving me aside and leaving with Antonio and the dans l'ombre.

I picked up my shovel and began my trek home, wondering how I was going to explain what just happened to everyone else. Fortunately, I wasn't as far from home as I originally thought I was.

The sun had already begun to rise, peaking up from over the golden hills in the distance. It surprised me a little; I had thought it was still in the dead of night.

As I got closer to the farm (I never got far enough for it to be out of my sight), I managed to make out a figure running towards me, full-speed ahead. At first glance, I thought it was another creature coming to beat me up (again), but after hearing it scream the word, "ALFRED!" I realized it was Matthew.

I dropped my shovel as my brother tackled me in a hug. "I was so worried that that thing had killed you!"

"Bro, the gayness is really showing now," I joked.

Matthew let go of me and gave me a hard glare.

"What? I was kidding. Geez, lighten up."

Matthew rolled his eyes, before growing a concerned expression once more. I couldn't really blame him. I _did _look pretty bad with my face still bleeding, my cloths mud-stained and torn, my bloody shovel, and my rumpled hair.

His face darkened as he whispered, "What—what happened? Alfred, what were you chasing? What was that _thing _that took Evelyn?"

Before I could even thing of a reply, I saw Holden running towards me, shouting my name. He ran up to us, panting. After he calmed down a bit he said, "Alfred, are you okay?"

I nodded. "Aside from my face, I'm relatively unharmed."

His face changed into an emotion I wasn't able to identify. "Alfred, can you explain what just happened? Ma and Pa—not to mention Evelyn—were all worried sick. We all were."

I nervously scratched the back of my head. I said the only thing I could think of saying, "Oh, you know, just spook business," and gave a little nervous chuckle.

Mattie's eyes widened as Holden's face grew dark.

Holden cleared his throat, and schooled his expression. "Come on Al, we better get you cleaned up." His tone was tight and strained, making me wonder what exactly he was thinking. _He's probably just upset that Evelyn got harmed, _I figured, and put the subject out of my mind.

When I got to the house, the first person I saw was Evelyn, sitting in a rocking chair with a bruised neck, blood-shot eyes, and tear tracks on her face. When she saw me, her face broke out in a wide grin. "Than goodness you're alright! I was so worried that that awful—er, well, whatever it was, did something horrible to you!"

I gave the sweet girl a bright smile. "I'm alright! Other than my right cheek, that is."

She motioned for me to walk towards her. She grabbed my chin, thoroughly inspecting my cheek. " 's not deep enough to need stitches, lucky for that, but it will still scar a bit. Holden, could you get me some bandages?"

After she cleaned my wound and patched up my cheek, Ma and Pa came running in down the stairs, and into the room. Whereas Pa looked relieved, Ma had this proud and smug expression on her face when she spotted the shovel I was holding. At first I was confused, before I remembered that she was the one who wanted me to become Kirkland's apprentice in the first place. She probably saw the shovel and had already guessed what I had done.

"Alfred!" said Pa. "Don't do something so stupid again! There's no need to play hero all the time! You could've been seriously hurt. You don't know what force it was that took Evelyn, and you didn't know if it could hurt you too. It wasn't your place to make a judgment call." **[1]**

I looked guiltily at the ground. "Sorry, Pa..."

Holden snorted. "Oh please, he knew exactly what he was doing."

All eyes, even my own, turned to Holden, shocked.

"What are you talking about?" said Evelyn.

"I asked him what it was that was harming Evelyn," Holden said, addressing everyone in the room, "and he replied that it was 'spook business'. Alfred, did you lead that thing here?"

My eyes widened. "What?! No, I wouldn't—I would never—" but I stopped, knowing that it was entirely likely I lead the dans l'ombre to the farm; Antonio told me it was attracted to humans with the sight. Even though it went after Evelyn and not me, I could've been the one to attract it to the farm in the first place.

"See!" exclaimed Holden, "He hesitated! He _knows _it was his fault!"

Evelyn scowled at her fiance. "Holden, he's just a kid. What happened wasn't his fault."

"Then why don't you ask him yourself?"

Rolling her eyes she said, "Fine, I will. Alfred?" she turned to address me in a sweet voice. "Does that thing that took me have some sort of relation to your being a spook's apprentice?" **[2]**

I cringed at her nice, unassuming tone. "Well, technically speaking it _does _share some similarities to the things I deal with while being apprenticed to Mr. Kirkland."

Her shocked expression made me hang my head in shame.

"Holden, you leave your brother alone!" Ma scowled. "You should be proud of what he did! He saved Evelyn's life!"

"He went chasing some invisible force with a shovel!" retorted Holden. "Some invisible, evil force that _he _led _here _because of the type of company he keeps."

"Holden—"

"No, he's right Ma," I interrupted.

Ma shut her mouth, looking at me in shock.

"Alfred, can I talk to you alone for a minute?" asked Holden.

I nodded, and followed him in the kitchen.

Once the door was shut, Holden took a deep breath and said, "You have two options. Either you quit working for Kirkland and stop all this spook nonsense from happening, or you never come back at night. You can visit all you want in the day, but you can't stay over at night."

A lump formed in my throat at his words and the implications. Holden could cut me out of the family if he wanted to, despite Ma defending me. He owned the farm now, and everyone else here was here because he allowed them to, even if that wasn't spoken out loud.

Upon seeing the expression on my face, Holden's own softened. "Look Al, you're my brother and I love you, but if you being here puts Evelyn or the rest of my family in any danger, I...well, then you just can't be here. It's nothing personal, it's just..."

He trailed off, hopefully looking at me for understanding. I nodded, doing my best to swallow the lump in my throat. After a few moments of strained silence I croaked, "I'll be off, then."

"Hold on Al, I didn't mean for you to leave right away!"

I turned to look at him with a false smile on my face. "It's just like you said, Hol. I don't want to be here if I'm putting _your _precious family in danger."

Holden's eyes widened. "Oh no, no, no. _No. _That's not what I meant at all! Al—"

But I already slammed the kitchen door in his face.

My family and Evelyn all looked at me with pitting looks on their faces, no doubt hearing the whole conversation. The looks on their faces made me feel all the more humiliated. I didn't want and didn't _need _their pity or sympathy.

"Alfred," Ma said softly, "Don't listen to Holden, he's just afraid. He didn't meant those things he said."

"I'll see you later," was my only response.

I walked out the front door, down the patio's steps, set the shovel down (I had been holding onto it this whole time) before the front door opened behind me. "Ma, I already said—" my words died in my mouth as I saw Matthew standing in front of me.

Just then, it occurred to me that throughout the whole conversation, Matthew hadn't uttered a word. This wasn't uncommon of him, so I really didn't think much of it.

"Alfred, please stay," he said. "At least let me talk to you first."

"Mattie, I'm _really _tired right now, and I just want to rest. We'll talk more later, okay?"

"If you're tired, then just go to your room and sleep so we can talk afterwords. I just—Alfred, I just want to understand."

His violet eyes were wide and pleading. For the first time, he was unsure about what to believe. He wanted to know what was taking Evelyn, what I was fighting, but if I told him, would be believe me? I wasn't guaranteed that, nor was I willing to try at the moment. I was still to emotionally tender from Holden's rejection. "We'll talk later, Mattie. I promise."

I began to walk away again.

"Where are you going?!" Matthew called after me.

Sparing one last glance over my shoulder to my brother I shouted, "Home!"

**Page Break**

_Bang, Bang, Bang!_

I heard the sound of many locks being unlocks before the door sung open, nearly hitting my in the process.

I hung my head in shame, not wanted the man in front on me to see my red, puffy eyes.

When he spoke, I expected to hear the mockery tone of someone saying _"I told you so", _so I was rather surprised when he sighed as if deeply disappointed. "I'm sorry that you had to come back so soon," he said. It wasn't said in disdain, mockery, or anger, which surprised me to no end. The man had only _ever _spoken to me in disdain, mockery or anger.

I whipped my head up out of shock. The expression on his face only served to further confuse me.

It was a look of sadness and empathy.

He had known; he knew that something supernatural would happen while I was back at the farm, resulting in me getting kicked out of what used to be my only home. He knew, and didn't tell me.

"Alright," he said, opening the door wider to let me in, "I'll make you a warm cup of tea, and you can tell Ol' Man England all about it, okay?"

I mutely nodded, still baffled my his kindness.

He wrapped me in a blanket, gave me a cup of Earl Grey, checked my wound, and patiently listened to my woeful story, not interrupting me once.

After I finished, he took our cups away to be washed later. "Since it's still technically your vacation time," started Kirkland. "What do you want to do?"

"Can I just go to sleep?" I asked.

He nodded in understanding. "Of course."

He walked me up to my room, making sure I had everything I needed. Normally I would've snapped, saying that he wasn't my mother and I didn't need to be babied (not that he would do that under normal circumstances), but at the moment, I was just glad he was there.

He shut the curtains for me, restricting any light from getting in, before wishing me good dreams, and shutting the door.

No, the farm wasn't my home anymore. It really hadn't been for a whole month.

Here, with Kirkland, that was my new home.

**[1] Random speech from a minor character. It caught me off guard. **

**[2] That sentence was a pain in the butt to figure out how to write.**

**FYI: No, that is ****_not _****foreshadowing of Alfred becoming crazy. Alfred was acting off of adrenaline, simple as that. **

**Okay, FOLLOW, FAVORITE, AND REVIEW.**

**See you next time!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you to everyone.**

**NyleveLlom: Thank you! You're so kind. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: You will see more of Arthur's soft side next chapter, I promise you that! Yeah, it is kind of sad...but what's a story without and sadness? **

**Disclaimer: I don't own TSA or Hetalia.**

The rest of the week was literally the best week I ever had in my life. Kirkland let me do whatever I wanted (unless it was against his moral code). So, I basically spent my time frolicking in the garden with the fairies (I was careful not to fall asleep again). It really did feel like home; more so than the farm ever did.

Then the week was over, and Kirkland was right back to being a prissy poodle in heat.

It happened at 12:01 am of the morning I was originally due back from the farm. I jolted upright out of bed, gasping for air, and soaking in ice cold water. Above me stood a sight I was sorry to see again.

Kirkland was standing over me with his infamous scowl in tact, holding a metal bucked he used to dump ice cold water all over me.

Still sputtering I cried, "What in tarnation was that for?!"

"To get your lazy arse out of bed," the old man replied. "I tried talking to you, I tried shaking you, I even pushed you out of your cot. Nothing would work; it was like you were in a coma. Thanks to you, we are now a whole minute and a half behind schedule." He stood, placed his hands on his hips, and threw the bucket aside, letting out a _clank. _"Get something decent on, and meet me at the door in five minutes." With that, he walked out my room, slamming the door behind him.

I flopped back on my bed, groaning. It was a nice vacation while it lasted.

* * *

"What a minute—what exactly are we going to do?" It was nearly one in the morning. Kirkland and I had been hiking in the woods for nearly an hour; it was still dark out, with the only source of light being the lantern in Kirkland's hand. I apologize if my brain function wasn't at its peak.

Kirkland sighed dramatically, and rubbed his nose with his free hand. "I'm going to try and explain this one more time, so _please _try and give me your utmost attention. There are portals that allow things to materialize themselves in the other realms. Sometimes they occur randomly, sometimes they occur periodically in certain locations, and sometimes a certain being with magical capabilities is able to create one themselves under certain conditions."

"What do you mean, materializing in the other realms? Wouldn't that mean that the creatures that are in the other realm not be able to touch or effect things in our physical plane?"

"Now you're asking the right questions." Kirkland actually seemed pleased with me, for once. "The creatures we can see are trapped within our world, really belonging to another. We call all these different worlds 'dimensions'. In almost all cases, when a creature gets transported into another dimension, either by accident or by intention, they get placed in a plane that's between our dimension and their own. We call places such as these ones 'realms', which you already know all about. There are barriers that keep these creatures from interacting with the beings in the dimension they travel to, lest they intervene with the inhabitants of the dimension they traveled to. But as you know, there are exceptions to all rules, and many ways to break them. Most creatures of the other realm are able to live off the land, but not interact with humans. Many get materialized in our world, but the barrier that prevents humans from our dimension for seeing them stay. That one is impossible to remove intentionally, save for the other circumstances you are already aware of."

"Then what about ghosts and other forms of dead humans?"

"While their souls originated from our dimension, they turn into creatures from another plane after death, therefore getting trapped in the other realm. Keep in mind, most humans do not become ghosts."

My head was reeling; this was a lot to take in at one in the morning. At seeing my lost expression, Kirkland rolled his eyes and said slowly, "We're going to create portals that can transport us to these other dimensions, but we'd do it so that we don't get trapped in a realm."

"But you just said all creatures transporting to another dimension get trapped in that dimension's realm!"

"No," Kirkland said, reprimanding me _again, _"I said that creatures that are transported to a different dimension _most likely _end up in the dimension-they-traveled-to's realm. I never said it happens one hundred percent of the time. Don't twist my words. If you got trapped in a realm, there would be no way to transport back to the dimension you came from, unless someone from the dimension you were currently on created a portal for you."

"Then why don't we just send all the creatures back to the dimension they came from in the first place?" It _would _make a lot more sense then having to keep them in line all the time.

Kirkland made a noise of annoyance. "Some have made homes and families here. Not to mention it would me nearly impossible to pinpoint the dimension they came from. No, we only dabble in sending creatures to a different realm if it's the last resort. Even then, it is highly unlikely that they will end up in the one they came from."

"Then why am I learning how to make a portal if it's pointless?"

"Because_, _while we may not know all the dimensions, where exactly in the strings of the universe they are located, or being able to record all the dimensions and what creature each contains, there are quite a few we _have _discovered and know how to access. However, you can only intentionally create a portal to go to a specific dimension if you have the exact coordinates of where you want to go. Hence the reason we can't just think, 'send me to the dimension that breeds the mermaids and fairies' and expect the portal to take us there."

I gave him a sly smile, even though he couldn't see it. "You've tries that before, haven't you?"

Kirkland abruptly stopped, causing me to almost collide with him. He turned to face me with even more of a scowl than usual. In the dim light of the lantern he was holding, I could make out a slight blush of embarrassment covering his face and ears. "What—I—never mind you." He turned around, making his thick cloak swing and whack me in the face. I swatted it, and continued following Kirkland.

After a few minutes of silence I asked, "How do you know the 'coordinates' of a dimension? If they're all separate, as in you can't get to one by any mode of physical travel, then how do you even begin to chart them?"

Kirkland breathed a deep sigh. "Now you're getting into territory where my knowledge is very limited. I'm more of an expert on magical studies, not scientific ones. Think of it this way; in our dimension, the one we live in, there is the earth we live in, then there is outer space. There are the stars, the moon, the sun, and even other planets. The distance between us and those things is so vast, it's incomprehensible by most people. They are told facts that they memorize and recite, but most of the time they don't completely _grasp _the concept. To understand these things, we categorize them in a way that's easier to understand; by giving them numbers. By using a certain measuring system, humans give each thing out there coordinates to know where everything is located and how far everything is from each other in a way they can understand it. It works in a similar fashion with dimensions. Once a magical breakthrough happens where we can understand and see exactly how far away one dimension is from ours in the universe, we are able to chart it, and therefore travel to it, as long as we have the magical resources."

"But they're _dimensions, _not planets in outer space. There really is no _distance _between them; not in the physical sense, anyway. And if it does work that way, then wouldn't the key between traveling dimensions be a false sense of understanding, not 'knowing where it's located'?" I wasn't trying to be a smart-ass; I really wasn't. It was just all so confusing and hard to make sense of.

Kirkland simply shrugged. "Like I said, I'm not a scientist."

"And if dimension traveling is possible, then couldn't we find a way to somehow travel to where the dead go after death? Isn't that just another dimension too?"

Kirkland in took a sharp breath. I immediately felt guilty, remembering his family had died when he was young. "No," he said shortly. "That is not a dimension, it's called a plane. It is impossible to travel amongst planes, unless you are deceased. Even then, once the travel on to the next plane, there is no way for them to return."

"Didn't you say there are exceptions to every rule?"

"Not this one." He said it with such certainty and bitterness, that it made me wonder if he had ever tried it.

The rest of our trek was in silence; mainly because I was trying to wrap my head fully around the concept of "dimensions", "realms", and "planes". It was a lot to take in at one am in the morning. (I already understood outer space; I knew there were other planets with aliens in them out there. What else did I need to know)?

After a few more minutes, Kirkland stopped, looking around. "We're here."

I really had no idea how he could tell where "here" was. It all looked the same to me; dark shadows of tall trees. It wasn't until he set the lantern down that I realized we were on a clearing. If I didn't know any better, I would've thought that the clearing was in a perfect circle.

Kirkland found a giant stick, and proceeded to walk around and draw a giant circle. Once he was finished, he threw the stick aside, and sat down right outside the circle. "Don't just stand there, you ninny," he said. "Sit directly across from me on the other side of the circle."

I did as I was told with a sour look on my face. After I sat down, neither of us talked for a minute. "Is that it?" I said. "All this fuss about portals, and this is it?"

"Shut up, you bloody nancy, I'm listening!" His head tiled to the side, and he closed his eyes. After about five minutes of him "listening", he sighed in relief, and relaxed. "Good," he said, "The bloody Spaniard didn't follow us out here."

"Why would he?"

"Because he doesn't know how to create a portal. They don't teach those things in Spain, for some reason. I never figured out why..." He brushed the thought aside, and took out a two different leaves from his coat pocket, a bottle of salt, and a thin, small knife.

"What's that for?"

"I'm getting to that part!" shouted Kirkland.

I visibly flinched from his harsh tone. "You didn't have to _yell..._"

Kirkland looked like he was about to yell again, before he shut his eyes, and took a deep breath. "I'm not even going to bother with you anymore..." he mumbled. Clearing his throat, he continued. "Now, this—" he pointed to the bigger leaf, "—is a leaf from the tree Acar Peutoplantanus, which grows underwater. Its from the Sea dimension. We call is this, because almost all 'magical' sea and water life creatures come from that realm. Like Elizabeth and Natalia. And this—" he displayed the other leaf which was narrow and a lighter shade of green, "—is just a random leaf from one of the trees in my garden. I can never exactly remember their name." He then held up the little bottle of salt. "What does this look like to you?" he asked.

"Uh...salt?"

Kirkland's face frowned in disappointment. "Look closer, you git."

I squinted, focusing my eyes on what still looked like salt. "Kirkland, is this some sort of trick test? Because I _swear _that's—" I cut myself off when I saw the color or the "salt" swirl. It seemed to be moving within its own container. Kirkland had shown me something like that substance before. It was, "—pixy dust."

"Precisely." Kirkland set all the objects out in front if him in a neat little line.

"What's the knife for?" I questioned.

"I'll tell you when I get to that part. Now watch closely to what I'm about to do." Kirkland stood up, grabbing the little bottle of pixy dust with him, and sprinkled it all around the edges of the circle. Once he was finished, he placed the bottle back in his coat pocked, and sat back down in his original spot. He picked up the Acar Peutoplantanus leaf first, and tossed it into the middle of the circle. "One sample of the dimension I wish to go to," he picked up the smaller leaf and tossed it in, "and the dimension I wish to return to."

After that, he said something about a "sacrifice" and used the knife to cut his hand and drip three drops of blood into the circle. He muttered some weird words under his breath before the inside of the circle glowed pure white, lighting up the whole forest.

The two leave floated up into the air, before completely disintegrated. The portal seemed to swirl and change, until it solidified into what appeared to be a tunnel of white light.

Kirkland sat back and smiled, seemingly content with his portal. "There you have it. A portal to the Sea Dimension."

I gave him a challenging smirk and said, "How do I know it works?" In truth, I wanted him to go thorough it; I wanted to see what would happen.

Instead of getting huffy like I expected him to, he simply smirked at me. Standing up, he walked around the circle, all the way to where I was sitting, smiling like the Cheshire cat.

Thoroughly freaked out I said, "Uh, what are you—"

But he cut me off by grabbing my shoulders. "Don't struggle; I'd hate for you to fall in. I wouldn't know what to tell aun—I mean, your mother." **[1]**

Before I knew what was happening, Kirkland thrust me forward, still keeping hold of me, and into the portal. I felt the familiar feeling of water surrounding me from all sides and opening my eyes to see the ocean blue surrounding me from all sides.

I let out a gasp of air, but quickly closed my mouth shut, remembering that I couldn't breathe in water. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before; I was completely surrounded by strange, colorful plants. All types of different creatures (some beautiful, some ugly, all weird) swam around me. Some, curious as to what I was, swam up to my face as if examining me. After a few seconds, it swam past.

I forgot all about my need to breathe, completely aghast at the magical sea life around me. It was unlike anything I'd ever seen before. So much wonder...so much beauty!

Out of the corner of my vision, I saw something peaking out from behind a rock at me. I turned my head it's way, only for it to dart completely behind the rock. My eyes widened, and I had to stop myself from calling out.

It was a human; at least, it had a face that resembled a human. A thought occurred to me; what if it was like Natalia and Elizabeta? What if it thought I was intruding it's home and wanted to attack me?!

I was about to tug on Kirkland's hand to tell him to pull me up, but I stopped when the thing peaked out once more to look at me, hesitantly, revealing it's face.

I froze. It had seen that face before. She was the girl that I ran into while going with Matthew to meet Gilbert. _What the heck is she doing in the sea dimension?!_

I started at her with wide, shocked eyes. It took all of my willpower not to soil myself there and then; the ocean was millions of creatures' homes'; it would just be rude to pee in it.

She tilted her head at me, curious, yet still very cautious. Slowly, she moved closer towards me. If it was possible, my eyes widened even further; she had webbed fingers and very slight wedges of red, glittering fins that ran from two inches above her elbow to the center of her forearm. Intertwining with her hair where her ears should've been were what seemed to be smaller, mobile red fins that faded into white at the ends. That's when her tail came into view. It was long, slender, with fins on the side, and back. It sparkled with brilliant shades of red; the darkest being the at the start of the tail, and the lightest being at the end, where the tail fanned out into a beautiful, translucent white fin.

While she was one of the strangest creatures I had ever seen, she was also, well, not exactly beautiful, but...

Alluring.

Something was intriguing about her. It might've been with the grace she moved with, or it might've been her unusual, exotic features. I don't know. But there was something just...spectacular.

Ever so cautiously, she came within arms distance to me. He gaze was calculation and mistrusting; I didn't blame her for that. If some weird-looking random person just dropped into my home, I'd be a little suspicious as well.

She started looking a little thoughtful, and a little less suspicious. She started raising her hand ever so slowly towards me—

I felt Kirkland's grip on my shoulders tighten. In less then a second, I was being pulled upwards, out of the Sea Dimension, and back into my own. I barely had time to register the surprised expression on the girl's face, before I saw a blinding white light. Before I knew what was happening, I was back on the forest floor.

I gasped for air, and fell to the ground.

Kirkland stood over me, smirking at me. "Does it work?" he asked mockingly.

But I didn't answer. I was too busy staring at the spot the now in-active portal was. _How did she get back into the Sea dimension? _I wondered. _How'd she get in _this _dimension?_

Kirkland's smirk faltered. "Are you alright? You didn't see a kraken down there, did you?"

I looked at him with a puzzled expression. "What's that? Wait, never mind, I don't care. Kirkland, didn't you say that if a creature gets trapped in our realm, then they couldn't get back to their own dimension?"

The old man furrowed his large brows. "Not without outside help from a spook. Why? What did you see down there?"

_She must know Antonio or Lovino, _I figured. _Maybe she found them, told them she was trapped in our dimension, and asked them to get her home? There was no way she _wasn't _trapped in the realm; no one but I could see her. _

"Alfred? Are you okay?"

Kirkland and his stupid face roused me from my musings. "W-what? Oh, yeah. It was nothing."

He gave me a suspicious look, but didn't press.

The next few hours were miserable. Kirkland showed me all the steps of creating a portal. He tried to teach the the incantation of the dimension's coordinates. He showed me how to draw the circle, sprinkle the pixy dust on (yes, it's different from fairy dust), toss in the leaves, and "sacrifice" the drops of blood.

No matter what I did, I always did something wrong, and the whole thing backfired in my face. The first time, I stumbled on the words. The second time, I drew an oval instead of a circle. The third time—well, you get the gist.

We were literally out there for _hours, _each one of my attempts worst than the one before. It was only when I almost singed Kirkland's eyebrows off his face that he said, "You know what? Let's call it quits for now and try again later. It's obvious that you aren't going to get it anytime soon."

"What?!" I cried, slightly panicked. My hair was standing straight on end, and I had black smudges of soot all over my face and clothing. "No, we can't stop now! I almost got it that time! Just let me do it one more time! I know I'll do it right next time."

"Alfred, you've already killed twelve squirrels!"

"They should know better than to run into the middle of a portal I'm trying to open..."

Kirkland made a noise of exasperation, and threw up his hands in the air. "We're almost out of pixy dust, I have no more leaves left, the sun is already rising, and I _don't _want to be responsible for blowing the whole bloody forest up!"

"Hey, that's not very nice! It wouldn't be so bloody if those stupid squirrels didn't get in the way." It was true; I had never known that a single squirrel could create so much blood. Let alone twelve of them.

The old man sighed as if deeply discouraged. "You simply don't have an aptitude for magic; that's okay, we'll just have to start focusing on that more, and less on your combat training. You've come pretty far with that."

I reluctantly stood from my seat in front of the failed portal circle. "Magic doesn't make any sense," I grumbled.

He rolled his eyes at me. "That's because you are just terrible at anything that doesn't have to do with beating someone up," he retorted.

I followed Kirkland back to the house in silence. He was most likely cursing the fates on how _he _ended up with such a low-functioning apprentice. Whenever he tried to teach me anything involving magic, I always ended up doing something horribly wrong. The worst part about it was the disappointed look on Kirkland's face; he didn't look grumpy like he always did. Instead, he looked rueful.

In my opinion, that was 1000 times worse than him blowing a gasket and screaming at me.

_Why do I have to be such a dud? _I asked myself. _Why can't this whole magic thing be easy? Why does Kirkland have to think I'm such a fluke of an apprentice just because I can't do any magic right?_

When we got back to the house, I was assigned the job of tending the gardens. "Something not even you have managed to blow up before," was Kirkland's reasoning. He told me that he was going out to take care of a minor boggart; since I already knew how to do that and he didn't need my help, he would just take care of it himself.

A fairy snuggled up in my hair while I yanked out another weed. In my time working for Kirkland, I discovered that the fairies often liked to play in my hair. Kirkland told me that they liked blond hair.

Tending the garden was actually quite relaxing. Some considered tending Kirkland's garden akin to physical labor because of how large and vast it was. With my strength, it was almost nothing to me. I could zone out, pulling weeds, trimming trees, and watching the fairies for hours. However, my mind was on something else that day.

Out of everything magical that Kirkland tried to teach me, I had to admit the portals were the most awesome.

_You're just saying that because you saw that cute girl again, _that annoying voice in the back of his head told me.

I dropped the weeds I was holding, and felt my face grow hot. _She's not cute! _I stubbornly shouted in my mind. _She's...she's kind of a freak! She has red fins on her arms, ears, and back! Not to mention the hideous tale she has. She's probably another crazy nymph like Natalia and Elizabeth._

_She's not a nymph, _his voice whispered back. _Nymphs don't have tails like that, and you know it. And you didn't seem to think she was a freak, you thought she was pretty. _

I huffed my annoyance, and picked up the week I dropped. Why was my conscience sounding strangely like Matthew?

After I finished with the garden, the sun was beginning to set. (It was a big garden).

Kirkland still wasn't home, and I was bored. I sat on the willow tree's swing, watching the fairies scamper about and play. _What to do, what to do..._

Suddenly, a (terrible) idea hit me! I would create a portal, and I would create it right. That way, I could see the girl again, while proving to Kirkland that I wasn't _totally_ useless! Everyone wins!

Filled with new found determination, I leaped off of the swing, and ran into the house. I went to Kirkland's room where he keeps all of his herbs, and other plant-like things. (Don't ask me what exactly; I had no idea). Looking through the samples of leaves, I found one that looked just like the leaf he used to make a portal to the Sea Dimension. I squinted at the bottle's label and read; _Acer Pseudoplatanus. _**[2]**

_Hey, that's the leaf Kirkland used to make a portal to the Sea Dimension! _Smiling, I picked it up, along with another leaf I pulled from the willow tree outside. I grabbed a kitchen knife, found another bottle of pixie dust in Kirkland's nightstand, and went to my room to create a portal.

My room was the room with the least amount of fragile crap in it. I didn't want to give Kirkland _another _reason to yell at me.

I made the circle the best I could using the pixie dust, triple checking that it was _not _an oval. I laid the two leaves in the middle of the circle, making sure they were complete leaves and not ripped.

Last, but not least, I made sure not to cut my hand too badly; I already had multiple cuts on my hand from my multiple attempts at making portals.

Finally, I began the incantation the best I could remember. To my utter delight, there was a bright white glow as the portal came into existence.

"Yes!" I shouted, jumping up and pumping my fist in the air. "I finally created a working portal! Who's magically inept now, huh!?"

I leaned closed to the portal, reaching out with my hand—

When something jumped out of the portal, hitting my in the face. I screamed, not just from surprise, but also from the pain.

I fell to my knees, clutching at my eyes; it felt as if they were burning out of my skull. There was a thud of someone jumping in through the portal.

I head a feminine gasp, then the tell-tale sign of footsteps rushing towards me. A gentle hand found my back, and I flinched away, not being able to see who the intruder was. "_Mon dieu," _The intruder whispered. "I see the jabberwocky got you." The accent was strange; I couldn't place it. **[3]**

I felt the familiar feeling of blood gushing from my eyes; well, what was left of them. I tried to tell the woman to go away and leave me along, but all I could get out was a pained cry. "Please, allow me to help! You are badly injured!" she said. But I didn't know if it was a trick or not. I couldn't trust her; for all I knew, _she _was the one that did what was happening to my eyes.

I tried to get away, but I couldn't see. I wouldn't have gotten far anyways, considering I blacked out.

**[1] What do you think Arthur was originally going to say? (Wink wink, nudge nudge).**

**[2] It doesn't say the same thing, stupid Alfred!**

**[3] The Jabberwocky with my own twist. (;**

**Okay everyone, just ask if you're confused about anything! I'll be more than happy to try to explain!**

**You know the drill; Follow, Favorite, and REVIEW! ADVICE, THOUGHTS, CRITICISM, EVERYTHING IS WELCOME!**

**Thanks to all for reading~  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Think chapter's on the shorter side. I was going to make it longer, but I got lazy, and felt like I ended it in a good place. **

**Thank you to all!**

**NummiNumNums: Heheh...your username makes me giggle. I like it. And 2/3 of your questions will be answered RIGHT NOW! You'll just have to wait and see on your other one. **

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: That girl is female Japan (gotta love her), and she is a certain breed of mermaid. You will see what happened right now!**

**NyleveLlom: Aw! I'm glad that all my chapters make you eager for more! I didn't end this one one such a suspenseful note for once. But the next one will be ended in suspense; I usually end them that way. This time, I was attempting to give you guys a break.**

**See those people up there? They're the ones that reviewed last chapter, and I always take the time to give my reviewers feedback. Follow their example and leave me a review! If you can...I don't want to be too pushy...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own TSA or Hetalia. **

As soon as Arthur came home, he knew something wasn't quite right.

The fairies outside were going crazy, trying to get inside. While it wasn't odd for one or two at a time to try to sneak inside, it was quite peculiar for the whole lot of them (somewhere around 1,000 in total), to be banging against the windows, the door, and any other possible entrance in the house.

Arthur furrowed his brows, wondering what could possibly get the fairies in such a ruckus. Entering the garden, the young man looked around for Alfred. _He was supposed to be tending the gardens, _he thought, _maybe he's still out here. He might be able to tell me what all the commotion is about._

But Alfred was no where in sight; another oddity in itself. As soon as Arthur came to the front door, all of the fairies seemed to take notice of him, and practically attacked him, trying to get inside.

"What is the meaning of this?" He grumbled, too surprised and shocked to be really angry. "The only other time you fairies acted like this was when—" Arthur stopped, understanding what had to have transpired. His face grew pale as his eyes flew wide open with terror.

The English man pressed the flat of his palm against the door, and closed his eyes in deep concentration.

_It was in Alfred's room. The ignorant boy was trying to create a portal to France, and someone from France was trying to create a portal that led here. _He probably used the wrong leaves and incantation, stupid boy._ A dans l'ombre came through the portal, and Alfred got injured. That was all the house knew, and all the house could tell Arthur. _

He felt a slow, steady panic start growing within his stomach. He knew who came through the portal. It could only be one person. _But why now? After all these years, why did she now decide to show up again, unannounced? And why would she hurt Alfred? Was she the one that injured Alfred, or was it something else?_

Arthur's blood ran cold, as he made a mad dash to Alfred's room. In his haste, he accidentally let one fairies slip inside.

He threw open Alfred's bedroom door, and visibly grew paler at the sight he saw.

There was no signs of a portal transpiring in the room, other than the lingering feeling in the air. _He actually almost did it correct this time, _the young man thought. There was, however, blood on the floor. Lots, and lots of blood. On the bed lied Alfred, unconscious. _She_ was leaning over the boy, wrapping his bloody eye sockets in bandages that went around the circumference of his head. There was blood all over the boys' face and bed, not to mention hands. The sight made Arthur sick to his stomach.

Upon hearing the door open, _she _stood straight up, eyes immediately focusing on the man standing before her.

Before either of them could say anything, the blue fairy darted towards _her_, and began attacking _her_ by pulling her air very roughly.

"Ow! Pesky little thing. Arthur, tell it to leave me alone."

Despite the situation, Arthur still felt his heart swell, simply because she said his name. Not that he was going to tell her that. "What did you do to my apprentice?" he bit out harshly.

She knew him too well. Not even flinching at his harsh tone, she looked at him sympathetically. "A jabberwocky followed me while I was making a portal here. I have had a few encounters with it before, but I never expected it to stalk me. It...it spit at me, and its spittle went through the portal and landed in the eyes of your..._apprentice _here."

Arthur's eyes widened as he ran to the bedside of his apprentice. He unraveled the bandages to get a good look at how extensive the injury was. He drew a shaky breath before putting the bandages back on.

_She _gave him a concerned look, despite the fairy still trying to pull her hair out. "Is he—"

"I can save them," the Brit mumbled, going to his herb room, which also contained all of his medicines. Moving quickly, he grabbed a bottle of liquid harplixoramy. "You're finally going to make yourself useful," he mumbled to the small vile.

Harplixoramy was a rare herb, used mainly to repair damage done to the brain. Arthur never had to use it, keeping it around from emergencies only; it was said to be a miracle medicine, repairing damage done that nothing else could fix. It had limitations, though, like everything else. It couldn't do the impossible. Once something is truly lost, it can never be regained. And that was why Arthur was running back to Alfred's room as fast as he could.

Hands shaking, Arthur dropped three drops of the liquidized herb into each of Alfred's nearly demolished eyes. He quickly wrapped the boy's eyes back up with the bandages, knowing there was noting he could do except wait.

"Is he going to be alright?"

She stood at a slight distance, hands fidgeting awkwardly, glancing at the boy guiltily.

Arthur opened his mouth to bite out a harsh response, but sighed instead, deciding that she wasn't worth the effort. "He'll still be partially bind at the very least, but that isn't anything that can't be fixed with glasses. It's better to the alternative of his eyes literally burning out of his head, which would have happened it I hadn't came when I did."

She tried to reach out to the blond man, but he simply turned away. She drew her hand back, hurt. "I'm sorry, Arthur. I never intended to hurt someone. Is he who I think he is?" she tentatively asked.

Arthur looked down at the sleeping adolescent, and couldn't help but have a warm feeling swell from within his chest. _You're all I have left in the world. _"Yes, he's my brother, if that's what you were wondering. But don't tell him, he doesn't know." There really wasn't any use lying to the dangerously perceptive woman. Arthur had figured that out long ago.

She nodded, and sat beside him on the bed. "He doesn't look like you," she noted.

Arthur sighed, not wanting to make idle chit-chat with the woman that ripped his heart out, and viciously tore it apart with her feminine claws. "Why are you here, Francine?"

Her face lit up, and she moved, inhumanly, and started patting his head. "You finally said my name! Mon Chéri, that word coming from your lips is the best thing I've heard all day!"

Francine threw her arms around the man, attempting to lock in inside a passionate kiss. **[1] **Arthur pushed the beautiful woman away, annoyed that she had the audasity to do such a thing. "Get off me, you bloody whore. Answer the question; why are you here?"

The woman pouted with her loucious red lips. "You haven't changed in the sligtest, Arthur. You're still as uptight as ever. If you _must _know, I...was in a bad place. I don't want to say any more than that. I also just _missed _you, mon cheri." She smiled sadly, and raised her hand to touch his face, just to have Arthur slap it away. "I regret leaving you. Though, you have to admit, you really didn't give me a choice."

Arthur made the mistake of meeting the eyes of the woman he once loved. Immediately, his resolve softened. _She's trying to manipulate me again, just like old times,_ he thought bitterly. _Damn it, it's working._ "If you're planing to stay here, you'll be sorely disapointed. I don't want you corrupting my ap—my brother." It gave Arthur a nice feeling to refer to Alfred as his brother.

Francine stuck out her bottm lip in a pout, before flipping her hair. "Well, I didn't really expect anything more, considering you _are _you. But I will respect your human idealization of 'owning' a house, and give you your space. For now."

The woman stood to her feet, and sashayed over to the doorway. She tilted her head back ever so slightly, giving Arhur a sly smile. "Au revior, mon amour. I shall see you soon." With that, she dissapated into the shadows, dissapearing. **[2]**

* * *

When I finally woke up, I was unbelievably sore. Not to mention my eyes; it felt like someone had poured a huge vat of pepper spay inside them, and left it in there to stew. After what seemed like hours of effort, I completely opened my eyes. I was met with only darkness. _All that effort for nothing, _I thought sourly.

Slowly sitting up I called out, "Kirkland?" I heard someone shuffling to their feet right beside me, and nearly fell out of my bed at how bad I jumped. _Good grief, I didn't know he was that close!_

"Alfred?" he sounded slightly relieved and panicked. "Don't move around too much or you'll just injure yourself even more so than you already are." He sounded annoyed again, but nonetheless, I listened to him.

I felt his soft hands (which felt suspiciously like a woman's hands), start unwrapping something around my head. _They're probably bandages,_ I reasoned, then froze. _Wait, why would my head be wrapped in bandages? What happened?_

Slowly, I stated seeing light peak in through the bandages, before they were completely removed. Everything was just a giant blur of color; I couldn't make out anything, except _very vague_ shapes. I waited for my eyes to focus, but they never did. "Kirkland?" I said looking around, not really being able to tell where exactly he was.

"Right here, Alfred."

My head darted to my left where Kirkland's voice was coming from. Even though he was right beside me, I could barely make out Kirkland's black attire. "Kirkland, what's going on? Why can't I see?"

"You can't see at all?!" he cried.

"Barely. Just a blur of color, and some shapes, really."

Kirkland breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Good, that's what I expected."

"How is this good?!" I cried. "I can hardly see anything, I don't know why, and I don't know what the heck happened! Arthur...what's going on?" I immediately regretted using his first name, and sounding so weak. I started to feel dizzy at trying to concentrate my eyes on something for so long, and closed them.

"You tried to create a portal, and—"

I groaned, flopping back on the bed. "That's right, I remember now. Who was that lady who talked weird? And what was the thing that burnt my eyeballs out?"

"She—ah, she's, um—well, she's an old colleague of mine. We haven't talked for years, so it was rather a surprise that she showed so suddenly. Anyway, that was a jabberwocky's saliva. It's pretty toxic."

"How the heck did a _jabberwocky _hawk a loogie in my corneas?"

"It was following her when she came through the portal, spit at her, which went through the portal and landed in your eyes. It almost literally melted them away. Fortunately, I was able to save yours eyes, as well as the little eye sight you have left."

"Well, it's not much," I grumbled into my hands. "And they burn like I happened to spill rubbing alcohol in them."

I could hear the man smirking. "That'll go away after a few days. As for your vision, see if these help."

He placed something in my hands. Squinting at and feeling them, I figured out they were a pair of glasses, and put them on. In an instant, everything came into perfect clarity. "Wow..." I said, looking around. "This is almost better than my eyesight before. Where'd you get these?"

"They're just a normal pair of gasses that I enhanced to adjust to your vision impairment."

"Whoa..." I blinked, looked around the room, eyes still aching terribly, but too fascinated with my new glasses to care much.

Kirkland bend to pick up something off the ground. "Want to see how you look?" he asked, handing me a hand-held mirror. I grabbed it, examining my new appearance in my reflection. What I saw certainly surprised me.

There was, of course, the things I expected, like the three red, angry scars (they hadn't yet healed) running from the bottom corner of my right cheek, all the way down to my jaw, and the few scattered freckled across my nose. However, I looked considerably different, and it wasn't just because of the glasses.

My eyes were light, sky blue, a few shades darker than the pale blue of a blind person's. If I looked _really _hard, I could see there were hues of light, faded green, but they weren't noticeable. It was traces of me having the sight. I swallowed, voicing my fear; "Can I...do I still have the sight?"

"Of course; nothing can change that. You're stuck with it."

While I knew I should've been relieved, a part of me felt bitter about that. _I'm still a mutant freak. _

I huffed, and flopped back on my bed. "So now what?" I asked.

"Well," he said, standing up, "I'm going to wait a full two days before I make you do anything spook-wise. The strain would be too much on your eyes, and I don't want to risk anything. For now, I want you to sleep and rest your eyes. Tomorrow, you'll still be quite sore, but I'll allow you to go into town, away from where you'd see any creatures of the other realm, and slowly start trying adjust."

"Would seeing supernatural stuff strain my eyes, or something?"

He gave me a half smile. "Something like that." He stood up to leave. While he was at the door, he turned to give me one last glance and said, "You know, you really are lazy. The day you finally get back on the job, you go and get yourself injured so you don't have to do anything." Before I could protest, he turned swiftly around, and shut the door.

"Well that was rude," I mumbled.

I didn't plan on getting any rest; I had just woken up from a really long nap (technically I was knocked unconscious because I got injured, but same difference), so why would I just want to sleep again? But my eyes started aching even more than before, and I found it impossible to keep them open any longer. Setting the glasses aside, I closed my eyes, and immediately fell back into a deep sleep.

**[1] France has to do something like that, male or female, or he/she just wouldn't be France anymore. Keep in mind that she just wants to go back to being in a relationship.**

**[2] In case you were confused, Francine is not human; she's a creature from another realm. More will be explained about her later on. Kudos to those of you who caught what creature she is.**

**If anyone caught the Black Butler reference, YOU ARE FREAKING AWESOME. NO JOKE. **

**Okay, you guys know what to do; follow, favorite, and...****_REVIEW!_**

**Thank you for your time and consideration. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, its been a while, hasn't it? I sorta got busy and lazy at the same time.**

**A big thanks to everyone who followed and favored. A ****_special _****thanks to:**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: You're welcome! If you have any suggestions about characterization, I'm up for it! Oh, and Alfred sees Japan again...*nudge nudge wink wink***

**NumiNumNums: Heheh...it's still making me giggle! Arthur will ****_eventually _****show it. You know, many chapters from now. Maybe not too many...sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. **

**Those people are awesome. Please follow their example and review. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own didilly-squat. **

The next day, I was faring significantly better. My eyes still hurt more than what should be possible, but I could actually keep my eyes open for more than a few minutes at a time. Nonetheless, the very action was still exhausting.

Despite not wanting to leave the bed, Arthur forced me to go into town the next day to adjust my eyes since I would be going back to work the very next day. (He wasn't giving me enough time to heal, if you ask me).

I did exactly what Kirkland suggested of me for once and took it easy, strolling around the main square reading the few shop signs in the windows, and prices for a multitude of objects.

That's when I bumped into a familiar face; it was Gilbert with his younger sister, Louise. Forgetting my most recent transformation, I smiled, waved, and called out to them, "Hey Gilbert! Treating my brother well?"

The albino turned around to give me a smart-ass remark that probably would've sounded something like, "You dare question my awesomeness?!" But the confident smirk slid off of his face and instead he said, "Not to be rude, but what happened to your face?" Even his younger sister looked a little perturbed.

At first I had no idea what he was talking about. Then I remembered he had yet to see my most recent scars and the...damage...done on my eyes. I recovered quickly, and laughed a little nervously. "Aw well, you know, staring into the sun too long and...stuff."

The two siblings shared a look. While Louise looked at me doubtfully, Gilbert shrugged and said, "Yeah, I guess. Though, your new eyes color _does _make you look a lot more like Matthew..."

Huh, I hadn't thought about that. "Um, I guess it does, in a way."

"Of course, his are much more awesome."

Before I could think of a response Louise cut it, "So, Alfred, was it?" I nodded. "What brings you here?"

"Oh, you know..." I really needed to become better at lying, "just looking around and...stuff."

I was fortunate the two didn't pry. Well, Louise, anyway.

"Hey Alfred, can I talk to you?"

I was a little off-put by the serious shift in tone in the albino's voice, but nodded anyways. With that, Gilbert led me away from his little sister, dragging me for a walk.

We walked in awkward silence for a while before Gilbert finally said, "Look, I'm going to be blunt. Matthew's really upset about what happened the other day."

I looked at him with eyes wide in surprise. "He told you?!" I exclaimed. Part of me felt a bit betrayed; we were supposed to be brothers as close as twins. Why would he talk about a moment personal to me to someone I barely knew?

I felt a sudden, painful throb rock through my eyes. I let out a startled grunt, and clutched my eyes under the glasses.

"Uh...are you okay there?"

I made a noise of annoyance. "Just fine." I certainly wasn't going to widen my eyes anymore.

Gilbert let a moment of awkward silence go by before he continued, "Anyways, I mean, I know I have no right to judge, but I don't like seeing someone as awesome as him upset. What I'm trying to say is you should talk to him."

"You're right, you don't have a right to judge," I replied, my tone not giving away my annoyance. "It's not your problem anyways."

"Matthew's unawesome problems are my problem too!"

I looked back at the fire in his eyes, and couldn't help but feel a little happy that Matthew had found someone who treated him like he deserved, instead of some invisible nobody.

Catching the albino by surprise, I threw my head back, and laughed out loud.

"W-what's so funny?!" Embarrassed, the pale boy blushed, making him look like he smudged red lip stick all over his porcelain face.

Calming down a bit I replied, "Nothing. It's just—Matthew was right about you, you know. You are a good person, despite the douche personality you have."

"I do not have a—"

"Look, Gilbert, I know you're simply concerned about Mattie, but whatever problems we have are between _us. _And we're pretty close; I know for absolute certainty that they'll resolve in time. So don't go butting in where your butt isn't wanted."

Gilbert's white eyebrows furrowed, and he looked ready to yell at me again, if a certain Italian didn't beat him to it.

"HEY! Stupid American idiot, I'm talking to you! Don't you fucking know when someone's talking to you?!"

I turned to see none other than Lovino Vargas storming towards me with white, hot fury in his eyes, and his younger brother, Feliciano, following close in pursuit.

"Lovino! I told you no to be so rude to people!"

The two argued for a few minutes in Italian, Lovino sounding angry and Feliciano sounding whiny.

Gilbert rolled his eyes clearly annoyed. _Poor guy must deal with this a lot, _I figured. "Will you two please go away and argue somewhere else? I was having a little chat Alfred before you two completely unawesome people interrupted me."

Lovino opened his mouth to make a retort (probably full of profanity) before his eyes flicked to mine, and his expression changed to shock. "What the hell happened to your face?!"

"Lovino! Don't be so rude!" pleaded Feliciano.

I sighed, but refrained from rolling my eyes; that would hurt. "What do you think?" I groaned out at the Italian.

Lovino's eyes narrowed in on me, as if I was transparent and he was attempting to see through me. (_Psh, as if. I am the _least _shallow and transparent person I know). _After a few awkward seconds of this, Lovino said, "I have no fucking clue, and I actually don't care."

"Lovino, what do you want?" said Gilbert, quite annoyed at this point.

Lovino grabbed my arm so quickly that I didn't have any time to react. "I have business with this idiot that doesn't concern _you." _He then huffed, and dragged me away, Feliciano following close behind.

Lovino dragged me all the way around town until he got to a secluded, quite alleyway, where he proceeded to pin me against a wall. "Alright, I want answers, and I want them NOW!" he shouted.

"Fratello, stop it!" piped Feliciano. "Why are you doing this?!"

"Shut up!" Lovino briefly turned his head to yell at his brother. Feliciano shut his mouth, eyes swimming with tears. The older Italian rolled his eyes, so I figured Feliciano must cry a lot.

He turned his eyes back to me. "Now. Tell what what the fuck you meant when you talked about my mother."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Feliciano's face grow white, as he turned to look at me with big eyes.

"Exactly what I said," I replied. "Your mother is a ghost that lives in Kirkland's basement. She always screams for you two, so I figured that if I showed her you two were safe and unharmed, she'd pass on to the next plane."

Lovino's grip slackened completely as his arms fell to his side, and his eyes grew wide and moist.

"But ghosts...they don't exist..." whispered Feliciano. His eyes were also wide, but he wasn't crying. He was white as a sheet, and shaking visibly.

As for Lovino, he fell to his knees, and held his face with his hands. "Please...take us to her."

I shifted from foot to foot nervously. "Well...this is awkward," I said. "Look, I want to help you and your...mother...but as of right now, my hands are tied. When I mentioned Antonio to Kirkland, I happened to get the felling the old man doesn't like your spook. On top of that, if I sneaked you into the mansion and took you to the basement, I'd get in a _whole _lot of trouble, which I've had enough of for right now."

Lovino froze. Slowly, he raised his head to look me in the eyes. I swear, I had never seen such a murderous, enraged look on anyone's face in my life before. It was as if I was looking at my own personal Satan. "Let me rephrase that," the Italian said, eerily calm. "You will take us to our mother. Tonight. We'll meet you at your creepy-ass mansion tonight. If you happen to get in trouble, that's your problem, not mine, so you'll just have to find a way to avoid that yourself. Come on, Feli. There are a few things I have to explain to you about my apprenticeship."

"Wait, how do you know where I live?" I asked.

"I have my ways!"

As the two walked away, I could hear Feliciano's frantic voice: "F-fratello? What was the American talking about? What's a spook? What was he saying about Mama? Why—"

"Shut your damn mouth for once, I'll explain everything if you'd just give me a fucking second to breathe..."

Their voice faded away, and I was left in the alleyway all alone. _Lovino is sure a mean brother, _I thought. I felt bad for Feliciano, having to put up with Lovino all the time. _For once, I'm glad Mattie is always so quite and soft spoken..._

I sighed, wondering how I was going to avoid Kirkland and sneak the two loud-mouthed Italian twins in, when I turned around and—

I screamed the scream of a boy in the middle of puberty, so you can imagine that it was very manly.

Standing right in front of me was the mer-creature I saw in the Sea Dimension, the same girl I had literally ran into the other day.

Her eyes were hard, her expression gave away nothing. She no longer had any of her weird fins, but looked completely human. "Why were you following me?" she demanded in a strange accent.

"W-what? I'm sorry, I don't even know who you are." The logical part of me was telling me to leave. The other part was...

Bottom line is, I wasn't going anywhere.

The girl gave me a suspicious glance, clearly not believing a word I was saying. "You human seers are all the same, thinking you can fool me with pretty faces."

_Seers? _I thought. _That's a new one._ I put up my hands in a surrender gesture. "Look, I'm not lying. All I'm saying is, I never _meant _to run into you, nor did I plan on seeing you when I went to the Sea Dimension-Wait, did you just call me pretty?-Not that I _didn't _like running into you, you are quite pretty—I mean, you're not _ugly, _because I don't judge on looks, though I must admit, you _did _startle me quite a bit with your fins and everything, seeing as you looked humanoid when I saw you before. It also didn't help that you looked quite a bit like a nymph, because there was a certain crazy whacked out nymph that tried to kill me about a month ago, so I'm still pretty skittish around water at times; heck, it was even hard for me to take a _bath _for a while—not that I don't bathe, because that's disgusting, I mean, ew, right? But that's not that point. The point is—wait, what was my point? No seriously, why are you here? Who _are _you? Are you following me?! Because that's seriously creepy. But I would totally understand if you were, because, I mean, look at me; I'm the American dream. Of course, Tori didn't seem to agree with that, politely calling me a big jerk with an inflated ego, whatever that means, but I guess that doesn't matter since you don't know her. Wait, now that I'm seeing you face to face, I have to ask; how did you travel from the Sea Dimension, and this dimension? Because you're trapped in the realm in this dimension, that's for sure, or that mother wouldn't have quickly ran away with her daughter, shouting that I needed help a few seconds ago."

I fell silent, realizing she staring at me, dumbstruck. Not knowing what else to do, I laughed, and rubbed the back of my neck nervously.

After a long moment of silence, she spoke slowly; "I did not understand a word you said, but I am now certain you are not a stalker."

"Well, that's, nice..."

We stood there. For some reason, she wouldn't stop scrutinizing me with that piercing gaze of hers (she and Louise would get along just fine, if they ever got around to talking), and I couldn't bring myself to leave. I felt like I was a school boy, and she the teacher, having yet to dismiss me.

I couldn't take it anymore; "Stop staring at me!"

Her gaze only hardened. "Why, do you have something you wish to hide from me?"

"What? No! It's just creeping me out! Who are you anyways?"

A suspicious look overtook her features once more. "That is none of your business," she tartly replied.

"Well, okay then." I had a feeling I wouldn't be getting any information out of her. Normally, I would attempt to pick her brain more, (like I really wanted to in that moment), but frankly, I didn't have time; I had to make a plan about what I would do with the whole Lovino situation. "I guess I'll be going."

I turned to leave and walked a few steps away before she called back, "What is your name?"

I spared her a side glace. On impulse I said, "Alfred," before I remembered how tight-lipped and rude she was about giving me her own name. "Not that it's any of your business."

I began to continue walking before she called once more, "It is Sakura."

When I turned back to see her, she was gone.

**Page Break**

_Some people sure are weird._

Kirkland was weird because he was _Kirkland_. The Vargas twins were weird because one was a crybaby, the other was a hot head with the sight, and they were both Italian. Gilbert was weird because he was a gay albino. Louise was weird because she was so serious for a young girl of fourteen years. _Matthew _was weird because he was so soft spoken and also gay. And now this Sakura girl was the weirdest one yet; I happened to meet her two different times, each in a different dimension. One time she appeared human (weird, but human), even though I knew she wasn't because no one else could see her, and the next she appeared to be some sort of mutant fish. On top of that, she confronted me about who-knows-what.

I simply couldn't get my head around it. Sometimes, I thought I was the only normal person in my life.

I had to put that girl out of my head and focus on more pressing matters (cough) the Vargas brothers (cough), but it was easier said than done. It was true that I _had _wanted to see this mystery girl again, but not in the way she randomly appeared not answering any of my questions. I wasn't prepared for it.

Luckily for me, I had a very short attention span. So as soon as I stepped foot inside the house, Sakura was immediately put out of my head, and my mind was currently preoccupied with how to get rid of the Brit. I knew I should've learned my lesson at that point not to do anything behind his back, but I didn't. It was too much fun to defy the temperamental old man.

I looked around the house to see where my target was, but he was no where to be found. He wasn't in any of his weird "labs", or sulking in his room, or out in the garden. He wasn't even getting drunk in any of the cellars. (I had never seen him drunk, but I new he did it).

After a while of looking for him, I began to grow worried. Not because I cared about him or anything, but because if he still wasn't home, it meant he was more likely to come when Lovino and his brother came, or slightly before, making it all the harder to convince him to go out again. Not good.

Hours went by, and still, no Kirkland. I began to grow a little antsy. It would be just my luck that he showed up the moment Lovino arrived. I prayed to god, hoping that I was due for some good luck for once in my life.

I began to start pacing, when I heard pounding on the door. _That's not Kirkland, _I thought, _he wouldn't need to knock. So, that must mean it's..._

"OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR BEFORE I BREAK IT, YOU BASTARD!"

Yup, Lovino had arrived.

I sprinted for the door, tripping over a stool in the process, and nearly falling on my face (Phew! That was a close one! I almost broke my glasses! That would _not _have been good.). Hastily pushing myself back up, I launched myself at the door, disabled all the locks and security procedures, opened the door, and practically threw the Italian brothers inside. Once both the boys had all their body parts inside the building, I quickly scanned the area for any sighs of the old man, before quickly slamming the door shut and re-bolting it.

"All right, I want answers!" shouted Lovino. "Where is our mother!?"

"Geez, keep your pants on!" I said. "And don't be so loud either. Kirkland tends to have ears everywhere. Sometimes, I get the creepiest feeling that the house actually listens to everything I say and reports it back to the old man..." It would certainly explain why he knew about me going cow tipping that one time.

"I don't really care, as long as you take us to her."

Not even wanting to respond anymore, I motioned for them to follow me, before leading them to the secluded room that had the trap door which lead to the basement where Bianca's ghost resided; I almost forgot to grab a spare candle and matches.

While walking over there I asked, "So, Lovino, how much does your brother now know about...well...the business?"

"Everything."

I stopped in my tracks and turned back to look at him in utter shock. Not because he actually had the guts to tell his brother _everything, _but because it was the very first thing I had ever heard him say without one single cuss word or insult. I looked at Feliciano's face, noticing for the first time that he no longer had a carefree smile, but a sullen frown. I couldn't help but hope he wouldn't stay downhearted for too long; frowns just didn't suit the guy.

"No one asked you to stop! Are you really that lazy?!"

"Hypocrite..." I muttered under my breath, but started walking again anyway.

As we arrived at the small room, I closed the door behind us so that the only light source we had was the small candle I was holding. Gripping the handle to the trap door, I flung it open sounding a loud _slam! _Immediately following was a cold draft.

"Before I take you guys down there, I have to warn you," I said, shooting them a slightly guilty look, "she's going to be a bit...well, _different _than you remember her. She's a little crazy, actually."

"Of course she's not the same, she's dead."

I wasn't Lovino who spoke, but Feliciano. His head was down cast, and in spite of the dim lighting, I could just make out the glimmer of tears on his shadowed face.

"Feli..." whispered Lovino, shocked even more so than I was.

"Well, it's true!" Feliciano was clenching his fists, shaking slightly. Taking a shaky breath he continued, "Let's just go now."

I turned and led the two into the darkness, leaving the hatch open because it didn't open from the inside.

Once we got to the bottom of the dark cellar (I never figured out how big it was), we waited. Pretty quickly, I heard moaning that was the telltale sign of Bianca Vargas. As always, the first thing she did was wail, _"Lovino! Feliciano! Where are you? What have they done with you!?"_

My hands began to shake, so I set the candle on the ground. I bit my lip hard and closed my eyes, chanting, _I will not pee myself I will not pee myself I will not pee myself _over and over and over again. Even though I had gotten a little better, I was still terrified of ghosts.

"M-mama?" muttered Lovino. He sounded suspiciously close to tears.

"Is that you?" It was Feliciano.

A stillness followed closely behind that made the hairs on my neck stand on end. Then, "F-feli? Lovino?"

Her voice was different that what is was before. It sounded...more human. More _substantial. _It made me relax a little and less afraid.

There was the sound of footsteps coming closer. She still looked the same; nothing had changed since the last I saw of her. But as soon as she touched her sons' faces, her skin changed to an olive tan, her hair replenished in it's luster, her cloths morphed into the most beautiful red dress, and her eyes filled with life.

She hugged her two boys close to her, and despite her being a dead spirit, it looked like they were actually hugging a solid human. They spoke some things in Italian that I had no hope of understanding. A tear graced her cheek as she said one last goodbye to her children, and dissolved into the air. But she was smiling.

Huh. Just like that. _That was rather quick and anticlimactic..._

Feliciano fell to the ground and sobbed, Lovino quickly following suit, hugging his brother like he was his lifeline.

If I could, I would've let them stay like that for as long as they needed, but I was too worried about Kirkland comming back and finding out that I had let them in. So... "Hey, I hate to interrupt a big brotherly moment and all, but you kind of have to go. Like, right now."

To my surprise, neither of them uttered a word as the got up, and showed themselves out. However, at the door, Feliciano enveloped me in a big hug, muttered, "Graize," and left. Just like that, the Vargas brother were gone.

Aaaaaaaand...the world happened to hate me, because at that exact moment in time, Kirkland decided to show up, just in time to see the two Italians leaving.

Great.

**Hey guys, tell me where you think Arthur was. **

**That's all for now, folks! I will try to get the next chapter out much sooner this time. **

**In the meantime, please follow, favorite, and REVIEW! Advice, thoughts, criticism, suggestions, anything is welcome!**

**REVIEW! (I would like to get more than two reviews this time...)** **Until next time~**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone! I would've posted this tomorrow, but I'm busy tomorrow, so, here it is today!**

**Thanks to everyone who followed and favored! You guys rock! Special thanks to:**

**mimi-chan and aliling-chan: Huh...Alfred ****_is _****kinda like Anna from Frozen...I've never thought of that before! Alfred's personality will sort-of stay the same, but I have a lot of character development for him in store. Him more so than anyone else. Just a heads up.**

**Cybie(guest): Thanks! There wont be much more complications of Alfred's eye sight, but you definitely ****_will _****learn more about Japan.**

**Tabbyprincess: Thank you! And...okay, I'll admit, I never new there was "Jabberwocky" and " The Jaberwock". Thanks for correcting me. But, since I'm making it a species instead of a monster (i.e, one of a kind sort of thing), I'll leave it at Jabberwocky instead of changing it to Jabberwock because "Jabberwock" sounds lot more singular than "Jabberwocky. I also just like saying Jabberwocky more...But, again, thanks for the heads up!**

**NummiNumNums: I never said Arthur has a sister; who do you think is his sister? And yes, Arthur is ****_very _****punctual; it's what he prides himself on. I will try!**

**Big Eater Queen: Prussia is pretty awesome, isn't he? I'll give you a little spoiler; I'm planning some awesome-trio stuff not too far from now, in case you like awesomeness. Also (please don't kill me...) who's Nikonko? I'd love to incorporate your suggestion, you know, if you told me who that is... Yes, you did contribute to the review count! I cherish each review! Thanks so much!**

**kittyhawk09: I have to admit, I've never read a cardverse. But I just checked out the one you recommended, and now I'm hooked. So, thanks for the awesome suggestion! I really like it so far! **

**YOU GUYS ARE MORE AWESOME THAN PRUSSIA FOR REVIEWING! As you can see, I take time to read every review, and I cherish each one like how Americans cherishes their hamburgers. You know, except for me. Because those things are disgusting. I might be the only American who has ever said that...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own diddly-squat. **

"Care to explain why you had Lovino and Feliciano Vargas here?"

Kirkland had never reminded me of a woman more than he did at that moment in time. He was standing before me, hands on hips while he was tapping his foot rapidly, wearing an expression that was the exact replica of the one my Ma gave me when I did something naughty. It was kind of like deja vu. The funny thing was, even though he was angry at me, he did _look _his normal crabby self. For one, his face held a slight blush to the cheeks, and no matter how much his face was scowling, he _eyes _weren't. They showed delightful joy. _Huh, _I thought, _maybe the old man finally got some. _

Immediately, I started busting up with laughter. Why, you ask? Because there was no way in Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory that Kirkland had been with a woman. I mean, come _on_; he was _Kirkland. _

Upon my laughing, his expression tightened. "What's so funny, you git?"

I calmed down enough to say, "N-nothing, I just thought of something."

He gave me a suspicious look before concluding, "I most likely wouldn't want to know. Now, on with it; why were the Vargas boys here?"

There was no point in lying to Kirkland. He was bound to find out the truth soon enough anyways, considering the resident ghost just checked out for good. (Actually, the real reason why I decided to tell the truth was because the only lie I could think of involved wind-up-monkeys-with symbols that were imported from Russia, and, call me crazy, but I didn't think he would buy that).

"I brought them here to help Bianca Vargas pass on," I admitted.

His expression morphed into one of surprised, with his massive eyebrows slightly raised with his mouth just parted. He recovered quickly though, and cleared his throat, "Well, I guess you're not completely stupid after all. I'm actually quite surprised you figured out what was required for the woman to pass on, but I suppose, in Bianca's case, she made it _very _clear. I was actually planning to get the Vargas boys to do just what you did. Bianca _was _Italian, after all, and therefore quite irritating with all her screaming. But never, _ever _do something like that again without consulting me first. You are _never _to take initiative in _any _situation, _whatsoever, _unless I deem it appropriate. If you do not obey this, I promise you that there will be dire consequences. Are we understood?"

It was my turn to gape like a fish. "Y-y-yes, Kirkland, sir!"

"Good. Now, get some rest; tomorrow's a big day."

I shot him a confused look. "But...it's only—"

"I'm perfectly aware of the time, thank you very much."

Sometimes, Kirkland could be so hard to deal with. "It's just that it's much, _much _earlier than I usually go to bed."

"Number one, the opportunities for sleep in this line of work is few and far between. When I give you the chance to sleep, you _take _that chance. Number two, I figured I would give you some extra rest for your eyes. Number three, do not question my authority, or I guarantee you that you will most definitely end up dead."

"What are we doing tomorrow anyways? You never tell me anything, or warn me about anything! All of a sudden you just blurt out 'Alfred, move your bloody arse over here! We have go beat up some unicorns that can kill us!' or 'Alfred, you're so ill prepared! We have to go change some baby giants' diapers, and you don't even have your acid-proof gloves on!'" I was attempting to mimic his accent.*****

"I do _not _sound like—"

"That's not the point!" I said. "I point is you don't tell me anything! You all of a sudden just randomly throw me in life-or-death situations, then yell at me for not being prepared! You should at least _tell _me what the heck we're doing so that I can actually attempt to actually do what you want me to do for once!"

He was not amused. The previous joy that was in his eyes was long gone and forgotten. His expression was narrowed into a cold, detached stare. He continued looking me straight in the eyes, as if to challenge me, before snorting and walking away. "If you can't even figure that out," he called back at me, "you truly are a useless apprentice."

My eyes began to burn, and this time, it wasn't because of my injury. "O-oh yeah!?" I shouted at his back. "Well you-y-you're just..._stupid!"_

I'll admit, it was a _pretty _lame come-back, but it was all I could think of at the moment. He didn't even glance at me; he just continued up the stairs before entering his room and slamming the door behind him.

I was so sick of trying to please him. I was constantly trying to do what he wanted me to, but I never could since he never _told _me what he wanted from me. It was an endless cycle of frustration. Kirkland had to make it worse by constantly reminding me how unhealthy it was that I was so dependent on people's acceptance.

"_I'm telling you this now so that you don't crash and burn in the future," _he said to me. _"__You are _different _than other people. You will never fit in with them, no matter how hard you try, because it is impossible. People are afraid of what they can't understand, and if they truly found out what we are and what we did, we'd be burnt like the poor women who are falsely accused of witchcraft. You need to stop striving for acceptance and normalcy, because it will _never _happen."_

At the time, I wrote everything he had said off as his gibberish that he liked to spew at times. I mean, Kirkland didn't _know _me, so why would I listen? But for some reason, the memory decided to resurface, along with many other perfectly horrible things he had said to me.

"_Every time I think there is no possible way for you to get any stupider, you continue to do the impossible." _**[1]**

"_I'm sorry, did I give you the impression that I actually cared?" _**[2]**

"_You can't do anything right!"_

"_YOU WILL EAT THESE SCONES, AND YOU WILL LIKE IT!" _**[3]**

"_Stop smuggling food, or you will gain even _more _weight."_

"_Bloody hell...just go home, Alfred. I can't afford for you to make these kinds of mistakes anymore."_

"_I'm sorry, are you mentally disabled, or something of the sort? If you are, please inform me, so I can simplify things even _more _so you may have some hopes of understanding." _**[4]**

"_Again." _**[5]**

"_I should've never taken on an apprentice...it would have saved me _so _much trouble."_

"_You cannot, under _any _circumstances, do something like that again! You are _truly _the _worst _apprentice anyone could ever dread to have!"_

"_If you cant figure that out, then _**you truly are a useless apprentice."**

While I was never a very emotional person and never took personal offense to anything I was ever told, in that instant, it was as if all the words were daggers to my gut, the last being to my heart.

I couldn't take it anymore. Tears pooled over my eyes, obscuring everything from view. I didn't even want to be in the same _house _as him a the moment, so I ran to the front door, unlocked all the pointless locks, and ran into the gardens. On one of the stone pathways I tripped, falling down. I managed to catch myself just in time, but I didn't not manage to catch my glasses. They fell off my face, slid across a stone, and landed somewhere out of my sight.

All of a sudden, I was painfully reminded of my new vision impairment. I had no hope of finding the miracle glasses by sight, for all I could see was a vague blur of color. On my hands and knees, I grappled around for my glasses, but I couldn't find them.

After a few minutes, a nasty headache was beginning to form, pounding behind my eyes. The colors were beginning to spin, and pretty soon, I couldn't even see the green of the grass or the gray of the stones. I couldn't even make out the blue of the sky anymore.

It was all maddening, and made me want to rip my eyes out of my skull. There was nothing I could do except sit down on the ground, close my eyes, and hold my head between my head, willing the horrific headache to go away.

"Aw, _mon petit, _why are you so sad? Is it because my Arthur is being a meanie again?"

That voice...it was the woman who had come through the portal with me.

My head jerked up, and despite my headache, I looked around, trying to see _some _sort of human figure. Alas, my vision was still no better. If anything, it was worse.

A cold hand grasped my own, placing something in it. "Are you looking for these, _petit americain?_"

It only took me a few seconds to feeling the object to know they were my glasses. I sighed in relief and slipped them on my face. With after a few blinks, the world finally came into focus again, and I could _see. _I looked up to finally see who that strange woman was.

_OH MY SWEET BABY JESUS ON A CORN COB IN DECEMBER..._

She was the most gorgeous woman I had ever seen in my short life. Golden blonde wavy hair fell to her waist in a loose pony tail, big, kind sapphire eyes gazed at me under long, angle-wing eye lashes, her skin was so pure and flawless (it almost looked at if she was glowing), and her chest...

Well, I'll just stop there.

My hands immediately went to my hair in a hopeless quest to try and smooth down my cow-lick. _Just be cool, _I thought to myself.

"So..." I said in my sexiest voice. (It actually cracked, and I ended up having to clear my throat about nine times). "Who exactly are you?"

She gave me a big smile that made her even _more _impossibly beautiful. "Well, aren't you _tres mignon!_My name is Francine Bonnefoy. _En chante_."

After the initial shock of her beauty wore off, I began to grow a little suspicious. I remembered how Kirkland told me stories about beautiful woman killing men. I knew for a fact she was the one that came from the portal (I had forgotten about that; I'm very one-track minded). I also knew she knew Kirkland. How he ever got associated with a gorgeous creature like _her, _I would never know. So, the only solution was...

"What are you?" I blurted.

The smile fell off of her face, and she looked at me with a curious expression. "I guess Arthur has rubbed off on you a little bit. That was pretty blunt." I was about to argue that I was _nothing _like that pussy, when she continued (very dramatically), "But if you _must _know, I am what you would call a _dans l'ombre."_

By jaw almost hit the floor. "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-but you're too pre—er, I mean that they don't have faces! And you do!"

She snorted and flipped her hair before placing her hands on her hips. "It's insulting that you would put me in the same category as those _barbares. _I do not compare you to a monkey now, do I? The only reason we are called the same thing in this dimension is because we come from the same dimesnion and can both morph into the shadows. Of course, I am _far_ more intelligent, skilled, and, I don't like to brag, but beautiful. I don't even know how those poor creatures live with themselves! What is the purpose of _la vie_ if you are not beautiful, _non_?"

I felt the sudden urge to agree with her. Instead, I tried to (once again) play it cool. "So, uh, what brings you here?"

She glance at me as if just remembering I was there, before smiling and patting my head. "You are just so adorable!" Yeah. Adorable. That's exactly what I was going for... "I came here to visit Arthur. Speaking of him, what did he do to make you so upset?"

Hm...maybe I could work this "adorable" angle...I shot her my best "kicked puppy face. "Well, he was just saying mean things _again, _and it finally got to me. So I came out here to be alone, and I tripped, sending my glasses flying. Because I'm well...visually impared...I couldn't find my glasses. Everything was just so fuzzy, and I didn't know which way was up, or down. I was so scarred...and then you came along." I looked down, at the ground, acting as if I was embarrassed.

Tears started welling up in her eyes as she coverd her mouth and let out a small gasp. _Bingo. _"You poor dear! I knew Arthur could be stubborn...but I had no idea he would go quite that far! Come here, _peu americain!"_

She pulled me into a forcefull hug, my head lading right on her chest. If it had been two previous to that, I would have been disgusted, and tried to push her away. But, my friends, it was in fact _not _two years ago, and I was in pre-adolecent_-_pervy-little-boy _heavan. _Word of advice; whenever you meet an older woman that is, regrettably, out of your leauge, do the whole innocent-adorably little boy routene. Works 70% of the time. Their maternal instinct comes into play like a mama bear defenfing their young against brittish hunters.

"Do not worry, I will give him a peice of my mind!"

_Oh, this otta be good..._

I followed the beautiful woman into the house and up the stairs to the old man's room. I briefly wondered how she knew where it was, but brushed the thought aside in favor of the anticipation of seeing Kirkland told off by a gorgeous woman whom happened to already know him.

She opened the door in a flourish. "Arthur, what did you do to this poor boy? When I found his, he was upset!"

I head the old man drop something in surprise (I couldn't see his from where I was standing). "Francine? Blimey...what are you doing here? I _just _saw you!"

Ah, so that's where he was.

"That is not the point!" she started, arms crossed and nose in the air.

Kirkland sighed deeply. "Alfred was probably just being over dramatic...per usual."

"I am not!" I protested from behind Francine.

Which just escalated into an "Am not" "Are too" argument, until Francine yelled at us we were behaving like children, and to stop it. We both crossed our arms sulkily, looking away from the other.

"_Mon dieu, _really Arthur, why can't you ever relax and _enjoy _yourself for once! Don't be so mean to the poor boy, you don't want to scare him off," said Francine, shaking her head like it was a great tragedy.

"Alfred's my _apprentice, _not my _girlfriend, _thank you very much. Besides, he's much better company than _you _ever were." The Brit shot her a disdainful look. Figured; one of the only times he complimented me was to insult someone else. **[6]**

_Wait a minute..._I thought, looking between the two. _Were they..._are _they..._

"Oh _please _Arthur; we already talked about this! I _left _because you gave me no other choice!"

"You ran away because you were a coward. Simple as that. It's not like you ever had any _real _feelings towards me..."

"You know that's not true!"

That's when it finally got through my thick head. My eyes widened, my mouth dropped, and any semblance of reason, reality, or logic that I still had left in my brain, even after everything I went through while being Kirkland's apprentice, completely imploded, then exploded, because the world had no more logic anymore, so if something wanted to implode and then explode, it could, because Kirkland used to _date _someone-(and if I wanted to make a run on sentence with too many commas, I could, because NOTHING MADE SENSE ANYMORE)-Not just someone, a _woman. _Who was _female. _And had _female parts. _And who was _very _attractive, and _very much _out of his league.

"Wait, wait a darn minute," I said (loudly) making them both stop arguing to look at me. "You," I pointed to the woman, "and _you,_" I pointed to Kirkland, "used to _date?! _A-a-a-and k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-"

"Don't strain yourself," the old man said sarcastically.

I ignored him and continued, "-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-_kiss? _And..._other things_ that could result in the production of little _children!? _H-how?! _Why!?"_

Francine gasped dramatically. "Has no one taught you the ways of _l'amour!? _What a terrible crime! I must fix that immediately!"

"Don't be _daft, _the bloody fool is just being stupid, Francine."

"Shut up, old man!"

"I'm twenty-six! And don't talk to your superiors that way!"

"You're not even superior to my butt!"

"What the bloody hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"Just what I said!"

"Arthur, you never told him about me!? I'm hurt..."

"Good!" he turned toward her with a livid expression on his face. "Maybe then you'll have an inkling of an idea of what I felt. Now, kindly _leave _Francine."

The woman pouted, before moving at an inhuman speed to grand the mans arm, giving him a slightly suggestive smile. "Do you _really _mean that? You weren't so eager to leave me just a short hour ago..."

I shuttered violently in disgust, knowing what that implied, and wondered why anyone, let alone someone as beautiful as Francine, would ever even be _associated _with Kirkland.

Kirkland shrugged off the woman, scowling, but still blushing a scarlet red. "Oh, shut up, you bloody whore."

My eyebrows nearly shot up to my hairline and I let out a low whistle. Sure, Kirkland cursed a lot, but that was just going a little _too _far. _No one _should call a woman, any woman, a whore. Especially one such as Francine, since she was _clearly _anything but. (Oh, how wrong I found out I was...)

As a result, I was more than a little surprised when Francine did nothing but scowl. "Fine!" she said, tossing her hair. "I know when I'm not wanted. And I _refuse _to stay when I am not being treated with decency!" She began to promptly march down the stairs. Before she got to the bottom, she turned, said, "I only came to inform you that a stupid boy with spiky blonde hair found a dragon egg and it hatched for him. But I _suppose _you don't care, since you so _clearly _don't want to know."

Neither Kirkland nor I had any time to react before she turned into the shadows and vanished.

I was still trying to process everything that had just happened when Kirkland groaned loudly. "Typical Francine; she's so self-absorbed. Why does she have to be so...ugh! Never mind that. Alfred, grab your coat."

"W-why?"

Kirkland gave me a look that said, _"__are you daft", _and I knew everything was okay. "You heard what she said; some idiot boy found a dragon egg that _hatched, _and if we don't go over there this minute to control the situation, I can assure you we will have a _very _big mess on our hands later on."

He hastily shoved his boots on, sprinted down-stairs to grab his coat (almost tripping in the process), and flung the door open. "There's no time!" he screamed. "Come on, Alfred!"

He was acting so strange that it kind of freaked me out, making me move faster to grab my coat and boots, and follow the mad-man out the door.

While we were running (which was even more strange in itself; Kirkland just _didn't _run long distances), he said to me, "You asked me earlier why I never tell you things before hand. And, well, it's because I'm preparing you for situations like this."

My brows furrowed in confusion as I struggled to keep up. "What do you mean?"

He sighed (I didn't know that was possible to do while running). "You really have to make me spell it all out for you, don't you? I wanted you to try and figure it out yourself, but no matter. In this line of work, you will _never _know anything before-hand. That's what I was preparing you for; it will be necessary for you to take action at the drop of a hat. Also, it's important that you follow my direction without question. Most of the time, I will not have the time to explain the reasons _why _I tell you to do something. If you even hesitate or question your orders, it could very well be the difference between life and death. I...just thought you should know because I didn't want you to think the only reason I with-held information was because I'm a grumpy Brit who doesn't like working with others."

It was times like this that I remembered Kirkland wasn't all bad. I laughed and said, "I already think you're a grumpy Brit who doesn't like working with others!"

"_You—"_

"But I also know that I'm stupid, and I never would've been able to figure that out so...thanks for telling me."

Kirkland briefly glanced back at me, but continued moving forward. "Alfred, I you're not stupid. You're just...I've never met someone like you before."

I didn't know whether to take that as a complement or an insult, so I settled with, "Oh."

"Right then. Now, let's go catch us a dragon."

***Imagine Alfred mimicking Arthur in a really harsh Scottish accent. You can understand now why he is upset.**

**[1] I have used this insult.**

**[2] I have used this insult as well. **

**[3] Spongebob, anyone?**

**[4] I've often thought this, but have never actually had the guts to say it to someone's face.**

**[5] Fans of Batman will get this. Basically, Arthur never compliments Alfred when running through combat drills; he only said "Again" when Alfred is finished, so he has to do it again.**

**[6] Just assume that whenever Francine and Arthur talk, it leads into an argument about their relationship. **

**Okay, that's all for now! Next chapter is Chapter 11.5, which will probably not have anything to do with the current story line, and it is a flash in the past. Since we just finished the first story arch (Alfred solving his first spook case, mission, whatever you want to call it, by himself, which was the whole Vargas fiasco), we will move to story arch number 2 which will most likely deal with the familial related issues as well as other unanswered questions that were in this first story arch. **

**Alright, you guys know what to do. Follow, favorite, and REVIEW! Thoughts, advice, criticism, suggestions, really, anything is welcome! Unless you're flaming without a good reason. Then it's kind of like WTH? **

**PLEASE review! I really loved the amount of reviews I got on last chapter, and I would like to have the same amount of review/more for this chapter!**

**Thank you for your time.**


End file.
